A Time Lady Returns
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: Note - I accidently took this story down by mistake to get rid of a technical error. my apologies. AU - The Earth has surrendered to the Daleks, but the Master wasn't the only Time lord to survive the Time war. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer - I don't own Doctor Who, the actors, the planets - anything. I borrowed the story idea though, from Sage1988. Nice person, thank you again for the idea. **

**A Time Lady Returns.**

Sometimes she dreamt, dreamt of impossible things that, even during her time in Torchwood, was next to impossible.

_She has a different face - short dark hair, Asiatic features, a bright sunshiny smile, 60s style clothes, she lives in a machine - No, a ship that can travel in time and space…_

…_.she's walking home to, of all things, a scrap yard. Only in the scrap yard is a blue box, a blue box with the words " Police Public Call Box," she takes a key out of her pocket. Opening the door she steps inside and finds herself in a room which is __**Bigger on the inside that on the outside.**_

_She doesn't understand it, but she does….._

…_..she's holding the key in her hands, pleading, begging to be let back in but he, her grandfather doesn't listen and promises he'll return. _

_You watch, both hearts beating in agony as he leaves, as the TARDIS dematerialises. You walk away, dropping the TARDIS key on the ground as you walk away with a handsome, battered young man. _

_You know you'll never need it again…._

…_.their dead….David and Grandfather are both dead….shot by the Master, a member of your own people. You've captured his TARDIS, learned how to control her. Now all you need to do is put it all behind you and make your own start in life….._

_The war is going badly for the Time lords, far worse than most would be forced to admit. You fight on the frontlines, using the knowledge of your travels and your personal knowledge of the Daleks as a means to an end….._

_The planet is dying, your body is next to shattered by the war and the artron energy released by the Eye of Harmony. Already you can feel the regeneration energy starting to course through your body, changing a small amount of it already._

_You pilot the TARDIS, just as battered and damaged as you are, but she'll heal. Regenerate like you. _

_As you regenerate, you feel something on your head. It feels….No, you realise in panic as the energy reaches its end….just as the chameleon arch powers up and you feel 4 times more agony than you did when you regenerated….._

Gwen Cooper woke up, shaking from the dream - no, nightmare that she'd just had.

Shrugging it off, thinking it didn't matter she put on her clothes.

Another day at Torchwood.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Planets in the sky and the Watch.**

Gwen sat on the couch, listening as her world collapsed as the Daleks destroyed everything. Already she could hear UNIT pleading with the Daleks for surrender. Already Jack and Ianto were in their own depressed little worlds - Ianto was going about his work, dropping cups as the surrender plea went through.

But Jack…. Jack seemed to have given up and in truth, Gwen couldn't blame him. The Daleks had hit the Earth so strongly and totally by surprise that the military couldn't put up a good enough fight short of a nuclear holocaust.

Jack was in a world all to his own and Gwen remembered vividly the reaction he'd had to the Daleks. A part of her….a small but large part of her remembered…..something…..something important about the Daleks.

Almost like she knew them. Somehow.

Shaking her head, thinking it wasn't important Gwen focused on a voice.

" _This message is of the utmost importance."_

_Getting up, Gwen walked over to a console and fiddled with the monitor, trying to get it working, the voice carrying on its message, _

" _Can anyone hear me ?"_

_Gwen spoke up trying to get the boy's attention, " Someone's trying to get in touch."_

_Jack was nonchalant, his mind and brain trying to come up with ideas, but they fell through the roof. _

" _The Whole world's crying out. Just leave it." His voice was quiet, but not quiet enough._

" _Captain Jack Harkness, shame on you !" The voice rebuked. Then it carried on._

" _now, stand to attention, sir."_

_Getting up Jack ran to the monitor._

" _What ?"_

" _Who is that ?" the screen cleared revealing a familiar woman. Gwen had seen her on the news and at speeches. This was…_

" Harriet Jones, former prime minister." she held up her trademark card.

" Yeah, I know who you are." Jack said. Harriet spoke again, but not to Jack.

" Sarah Jane Smith, 13 Bannerman Road, are you there ?" An unfamiliar woman in an attic appeared along with a teenage boy.

" Yeah, yeah, I'm here. That's me!"

" Good !"

" Now, let's see if we can talk to each other."

" The fourth contact seems to be having some trouble getting through." Harriet fiddled with her computers.

" I'll just boost the signal." more fumbling.

" Hello ?" A familiar face appeared on the screen

" Martha Jones!"

" Martha, where are you ?" Jack asked.

" I guess Project indigo was more clever than we thought. One second I was in Manhatten, next second, maybe Indigo tapped into my mind cause I ended up in the one place I wanted to be."

Gwen looked at the faces on the screen, chucking when Jack was rebuked by Harriet for flirting with Sarah Jane. She overheard Sarah and Harriet talk about the Doctor and how he deposed her and how she stood by her actions, even to this day.

She was shaken by Martha's voice.

" The Doctor's got my phone on the TARDIS, but I can't get through."

Gwen straightened, the word TARDIS echoing through her mind.

" TARDIS ?" She asked.

Martha's voice was impatient, " it's the Doctor's time machine. Gwen, are you ok ?" her voice which had been impatient turned into concern when she saw her friends faraway look.

Gwen looked a little lost and Jack was concerned. " Gwen, are you alright ?"

But the young welsh woman didn't speak, her mind was assaulted by memories and voices, but there was one voice in particular that seemed to speak with her, " _The Daleks, always the Daleks. My grandfather needs me, let me out. I can help…."_

Gwen reached in a seldom used pocket on her jeans where she removed an object that Jack and Martha recognised.

A fob watch, with Gallifreyan lettering.

" Oh. My. God. Jack, whatever you do, don't let her open it!" Martha shouted over everyone asking what was going on.

Jack was focused on his friend, never had he suspected…memories of the Master and the carnage he brought to the earth before Martha and the Doctor stopped him.

He wasn't going to let that happen.

He was about to lunge when Gwen opened the watch….


	3. Chapter 3

**New Skin.**

Gwen took a deep breath, as the golden light hit her in the face. At once, her body changed internally - one heart became two, binary vascular system was restored, her body temperature lowered as her body returned to its original genetic code but more importantly, her memories came back. They seemed to flood her mind and senses.

Memories of a planet now gone, an old TARDIS, two inquisitive school teachers.

David.

Then the Time war, fighting a never ceasing battle across time and space…Rassilon's ultimate sanction….destruction of home…chaos….the Eye of Harmony ripped apart….

Then…regeneration and a new life. Her TARDIS, her faithful TARDIS so badly damaged, needing repair and caring about her, wanting her to be safe. So she applied the chameleon arch and turned her Time lady into a human.

Years locked away in a watch whilst her human self was a maid to a nasty bit of work, her telepathic abilities channled by the rift….death….resurrection courtesy by her TARDIS….life as a policewoman….then Torchwood, Owen and Tosh dying….

Now….life again.

The Time lady took in her body, she hadn't had a chance to look before and now she wasn't going to miss an opportunity, even with Daleks nearby and a planet to save.

You never knew when a body part was going to be essential and if you didn't have it, you sung a different tune. She wasn't going to fail in defeating the vermin if she didn't have at least one essential part.

Holding one of her legs up, she said, " legs, still got legs."

Giving the leg a kiss she set it down, then turned and gave her attention over to her arms, " Arms, hands, forearms…fingers."

Feeling all over her face, the onlookers were looking in puzzlement.

" Ears, yes. Eyes, two. Nose. Could be worse. Chin, yes…hmm, nice shape. Hair, hah ! I've got long hair, never had that, always short."

Flipping her hair over, the Time lady felt it, " Nothing changes, still dark. Is that what all my hair style's gonna be, dark hair all the time ? Still, the lengths good, never had it long before. Still, I was hoping it to be blond, not black."

Jack edged closer, " Gwen ?"

He knew it was possible Gwen didn't exist anymore but he had to be sure…

The Time lady looked at him and she stepped back, " Keep your distance from me please, dunno what my grandfather told you about fixed points in time and space, but to me its repulsive. Keep away until I get used to you. Please. I am sorry, but it is the instinct of a Time lord."

Grandfather…

Sarah Jane gasped, " It can't be."

The Time lady looked at Sarah's image, " Hi, Sarah Jane, long time no see."

" Susan ?"

The Time lady smiled at her.

" Yep, that's me. Rumours of my death, greatly exaggerated…." Then she stopped and looked upwards, her face creased by a frown.

" What is it ?"

Susan looked at them all, " Sorry, its just…the silence. Its unbearable."

Harriet was struggling to comprehend, " Silence, what's that ? And who are you ? What are you ?"

The Time lady looked down at the screen, " In order of answering, all Time lords are connected by a telepathic link, its inhibited now by the temporal pocket the Daleks have sealed us in, my name is Susan, I'm the Doctor's granddaughter. Sarah Jane met me years ago during a nasty adventure."

Sarah nodded in confirmation, memories of the first 5 Doctors being taken out of time to fight over immortality for a megalomaniac was going to be very hard to forget.

" As for who I am," Susan raised her chin regally, " I am one of the last of the Time lords."

" Time lord, you mean, like the Doctor ?" Francine spoke almost angrily.

Susan caught the anger and was puzzled by it. What had her grandfather done to deserve that ?

Martha caught the confusion, she'd been listening in jealousy that the Doctor had a granddaughter, even though it wasn't any of her business.

She knew her mother was marred by memories of the Master enslaving her and the family but she didn't think Susan was like that.

" My mother was enslaved a year ago, by another Time lord. He called himself the Master."

Susan reared back in shock, anger showing in her eyes.

Martha and Francine saw it instantly, " Take it you know him ?"

" know him ?" Susan's voice was bitter, " He murdered my human husband, started a little war and unleashed the Daleks on Earth. Took his TARDIS, made her my own, later on he betrayed the Time lords by giving over the Cruciform, one of our greatest symbols to the Daleks."

No one spoke, all were stunned by the anger and pain in the Time lady's voice. Sarah Jane, probably one of the few who were empathic, wanted nothing more than to reach through the monitor and comfort the girl.

But she knew it wasn't the time or the place.

Susan snapped out of her anger and reminded Martha and Jack of the Doctor who snapped out in exactly the same fashion.

" Now, we have to make plans. The Daleks have brought us across space, along with other planets. Why ? Daleks never do anything without reason. Torchwood doesn't have the facilities to scan the area, but I do."

Susan held up the open watch, which Martha noticed wryly, had stopped.

Susan flipped open the back, revealing an inner dimensional pocket. She shook out what looked like a sonic screwdriver, a TARDIS key and a small cylinder with a computer terminal bulging out.

Susan held up the key and concentrated, then the key started to glow faintly. " yeah, my TARDIS is still here and fully powered thanks to the rift that its been anchored to for years."

The Time lady turned her attention over to the cylinder, " Stattenheim remote control. Got it from the Time lords and one of the last examples of Time lord technology in existence. Now if I can just…" She touched a few controls.

At once, Martha, Sarah Jane and Jack heard a familiar sound. It was like the Doctor's, only more musical. A silver box materialised in the hub.

Susan smiled warmly, as if at an old friend.

She turned and held Jack back. " Don't go near the TARDIS, you're still a fixed point, whilst my grandfather's TARDIS might accept you mine doesn't. let her get used to you first."

Susan turned back to the screen and started issuing orders to connect the network servers to the one Harriet and Torchwood used and she told Martha to tap out the phone number for the Doctor.

" Don't do anything yet until I've connected the TARDIS to the rift manipulator. I need to break down the time pocket around the place."

" Well, what are you waiting for ?"

Susan grinned.

It was good to be back.


	4. Chapter 4

**Reunion.**

The Doctor, leaning against one of the pillar supports in his TARDIS, was brooding. Donna was nearby, trying not to look at the Time lord who'd given up.

Suddenly there was a bleeping from the console and the Doctor jumped, almost as though the sound gave him renewed energy.

" There's a portal opening, it's..it's a temporal pocket. Of course ! The medusa cascade is locked inside a temporal pocket. But who on Earth would know how to open it ?" The Doctor scratched his head in puzzlement.

" What difference does it make ? " Donna almost shouted.

" yeah, well, here goes…" The Doctor set the controls to go through the pocket.

The portal reduced the amount of turbulence that the time machine would normally have faced from such a crossing, but it was still rough.

As soon as they passed through it, the Doctor and Donna looked at the screen. It was like the hologram in the Shadow proclamation, planets of various sizes and forms, arranged like pieces of an engine. But this was no hologram, this was real life.

" 27 planets, there's the Earth," Donna pointed to the screen, " But, how come we couldn't see 'em ?"

The Doctor wasn't listening, he had a faraway look in his eyes….

Donna touched him on the shoulder, he jumped and looked at her, " What is it ?"

" I dunno, I think…." he couldn't put it into words, " I thought I heard one of my people."

Donna frowned, " I thought you said they were dead."

" They are."

Suddenly there was a static sound from the scanner and after fiddling with the controls the Doctor was greeted by four smaller screens filled with familiar people. There was Sarah Jane Smith with an unfamiliar boy, Martha with Francine, Jack in a place where the word TORCHWOOD was printed on the wall and finally, Harriet Jones.

" Where the hell've you been ? Doctor, it's the Daleks." Jack said.

" It's the Daleks, they're taking people up to their spaceships…"

"….it's not just Dalek Caan."

" What took you so long Doctor, I told you, you come and go, leaving the Earth defenceless…."

Jack shouted above the rest, " Hey, everyone shut up," After they'd shut up, Jack looked at his friend, " Doctor, there's someone here that wants to talk to you."

Jack pulled a familiar woman over to the screen and the Doctor recognised her as Gwyneth, the welsh woman his last life had encountered, the psychic who'd given her life to save theirs.

But there was more than that as their minds touched.

The Doctor gasped. " Susan ?"

The girl smiled, a shy but happy smile that seemed to be the norm in every incarnation Susan seemed to have, " Hello Grandfather."

" But how ?" Everyone was slightly stunned that the Doctor, a genius to rival Hawking or Einstein, was confused.

" I'll tell you later, right now we've got enough to worry about. Grandfather, the Daleks, they have a core of zed neutrino energy, the planets are held in an alignment field. Compressed zed neutrino energy…"

" Flattened into a single….no, please tell me your joking." The Doctor was desperate.

Susan shook her head.

" No such luck!" she replied grimly. Not good.

Harriet spoke up, " If I may interrupt, but what are you two talking about ?"

The Doctor was still stunned by the full scope of the Daleks plan and couldn't speak as a result, so Susan took over,

" Electrical energy, every atom in existence is bound by electrical fields. The Daleks have created a transmitter out of the planets in the Medusa cascade, right on top of one of the largest space time rifts in the cosmos. The Zed neutrino energy, flattened by the planets into a single stream cancels out the electrical fields. Matter falls apart, leaving nothing. The planets will blast that across every point in the universe, every planet, every particle will literally become dust, then the dust will become nothing. The wave will continue, breaking through the rift we're sitting on and pass right through over realities, repeating the process in every dimension. The Daleks get their dream, if they can dream, of universal domination by taking the shortcut of wiping everything out."

Susan's speech was met with shock and horror, they'd known the Dalek's plan was major but not this major.

Suddenly the screen went dead, Susan and the others could hear the Doctor say someone else was out there.

" Your voice is different, and yet, its arrogance is unchanged. Welcome to my new empire Doctor, it is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection of Davros, lord and creator of the Dalek race."

The screen cleared and Susan glared with fear and hatred at the crippled scientist on the screen, Davros was still hideous, still ghastly. Still evil and mad.

Surprisingly, Davros didn't mention her or even seem to know she was here. If he did, he'd send a Dalek force here to personally break the Doctor by killing the only other Time lord in existence. That possibly gave her time. It certainly did for Harriet, since Susan had hidden the sub wave network with her TARDIS.

The part where Davros revealed his mummified and mutilated chest made Susan cringe in horror and almost made her sick.

But then, an idea sprang to her mind….

Rushing into her TARDIS, she removed a small device about the same size as a torch, it was a cross between a camcorder and a pair of binoculars. A control panel was on the side of the device. Susan checked it over, " Perfect, it still works."

Next she rummaged around in a box and took out something else.

Rushing back into the hub, she found Jack on the phone to Martha, asking about her teleport device and getting hold of the base code for his defunct vortex manipulator.

He was just about to set the co-ordinates where the TARDIS would materialise when he saw Susan picking up Gwen's old leather jacket and running towards him.

Her face was set, " I'm coming with you." Jack was about to protest but realised it wouldn't do any good, besides his loyalty to the Doctor was telling him to take the Time lady with him.

After leaving Ianto in charge, Susan told him to look after her TARDIS and the gap in the time pocket that held the planets inside the Medusa cascade and giving him a quick lesson on how to do it, once that was finished, Susan and Jack left in a flash of light.

Susan, like many Time lords, hated vortex manipulators, they were crude time machines. They ripped a hole in the vortex to allow for travel, but luckily they repaired the damage.

Susan had seen the vortex only on the scanner screen of TARDISes, with the defences up and behind a scanner screen, the last time she'd seen it naturally with her own eyes and not through technology was when she was 8 at the time of her initiation.

The vortex was beautiful, a maelstrom of blues and reds, the twinkling of Kontron fragments was all around the pair, time had no meaning and that was why it was used for time travel.

She saw an image, an image of her grandfather, running and a Dalek screaming " EXTERMINATE !", a beam of death speeding towards him and hitting him on the side of his body.

Susan gasped, vortex manipulators could be set to allow the user, or users in this case, to witness tidbits of the future. Jack must've set his to do the same, foreseeing the possibility of her grandfather getting himself into more trouble.

As soon as the journey ended - Susan's time senses told her a minute had passed - Jack was ready, his gun firing right at the Dalek and blowing it right up.

Susan rushed to her grandfather, just as a blond girl with a very big gun did the same.

" Don't die, oh my god don't die !"

Susan pushed the blond out of the way, trying to shake off the urge to ask how on earth talking a Time lord out of dying would keep said Time lord out of death.

The Doctor's eyes opened blearily, " Susan….?" he asked, his voice coming out in a gasp.

" Hi," she tried to say brightly but like Rose her voice was choked up. She knew what was coming, she could feel his bio energy start to build preparing for regeneration. Susan's mind tap into her grandfather's mind had told her what regeneration he was currently on and that was bad.

The last thing they needed was a regenerating Time lord on their hands.

Jack had blown up the Dalek and had by this point ran to them with a red haired woman.

" Get him into the TARDIS, Quick !" He ordered briskly.

By the time they'd gotten the Doctor into the TARDIS, the Time lord was in absolute agony and it took Rose's body to keep him on the ground.

Donna was panicking, when that happened, the air became louder. Susan looked down at her grandfather, knowing what was happening.

" There must be some medicine or something." Donna cried.

" Just stay back, " good old Jack, Susan thought, always professional. Rose didn't get back, however.

Jack turned to her and repeated himself, " Rose, do as I say and get back. He's dying and you know what's gonna happen next."

Donna was right in his face at that, " What do you mean ?" she asked, ignoring Susan and Rose, who was presently crying.

" He can't, not now. Not after all this way."

Susan rolled her eyes, annoyed by Rose's selfishness. Didn't it occur to her that he might've regenerated some time ago when she was….heaven knew where ?

Donna was still hassling Jack, " What do you mean, what happens next ?"

The Doctor, by this point, raised his hand and peered at it. Susan knew exactly what he was looking for and he found it - his hand started glowing. Brighter and brighter.

" It's starting."

Susan grabbed Rose and hauled her off, ignoring the girl's protests. Didn't she know how dangerous regeneration energy was ?

Jack grabbed both of them away, he might not know how dangerous it was, Susan mused to herself, but he sure is taking the wisest precautions.

" Good luck Doctor." He said loudly.

Donna was still in hysterics, " Will someone please tell me what's going on."

Susan explained before Rose got her chance, " When a Time lord is injured or old, the body undergoes a metamorphosis, every cell changes, becomes new. The energy is biological and changing him, making him ready for the main change."

Rose, by this time, shouted, " But you can't !" As if, Susan scoffed in her mind, that would help.

Her heart was breaking, all this time, all this effort, only to see him die again. Her Doctor wouldn't be her Doctor for much longer.

The Doctor, leaning painfully against the console, said painfully, " I'm sorry, its too late."

" I'm regenerating."

With this, he flung himself away from the console and burst into vibrant orange, fiery light.

A/N PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note - I know that you'll hate me, but I've decided to write in the 11****th**** Doctor into this story, mostly because he's more deadly than the 10****th**** Doctor and I wanted a change without having to watch Journey's end continuously to write this story for the lines.**

**I want to finish this story soon as I do have others.**

**The New Doctor**

Before the regeneration, the Doctor was in a serious heated argument with himself.

_I don't wanna go, maybe I could siphon off the energy into the hand. _his thought was cut off instantly, by a voice that sounded exactly like his first incarnation.

_Too risky, the chance of meta crisis is far too great, more to the point, someone might touch the jar, creating a half human, half Time lord version of us._

_But Rose…._the sentimental part of the Tenth Doctor began. He was brutally cut off.

_What about her ? She's seen regeneration, besides, she's probably responsible for Dalek Caan rescuing Davros by knocking holes into the fabric of TWO realities. Two ! No, her childishness must end before Davros's plan comes into fruition. You heard Susan. Besides, this body is starting to wear out after 405 years of living. _

The last voice was that of his seventh self.

All the others agreed.

The decision was made.

Leaning heavily against the console, the Doctor looked at his companions, listening dimly as Susan explained regeneration to Donna. He wished he'd spent a bit more time with her in this incarnation, hopefully number 11 would.

He started to hate his future self, his eleventh incarnation. How dare he take his place, with Susan returned as a bonus ?

" But you can't !"

Rose. If the essence's of his past selves were correct, her little experiments were responsible for the current crisis. He'd need to find out.

It took a lot of effort to talk through the pain without wincing in agony with each word.

" I'm sorry, it's too late. I'm regenerating."

Propelling himself away from the console, the Doctor surrendered to the urge of the regeneration energy. At once, pain engulfed him, tearing his cells apart and reorganising them into a whole new pattern.

In his last thoughts, the Tenth Doctor wished he'd had more time….

Already, he was aware of foreign thoughts, strange ideas and the first strands of the next Doctor's new personality were starting to form as his body transformed into its new shape.

The Tenth Doctor wondered whether or not his eleventh self would think of him, then again, it was probable; he himself thought of his former incarnations from time to time.

The regeneration reached its climax, the final change.

The Tenth Doctor closed his eyes for the last time….

….and the eleventh Doctor opened them.

Rose Tyler couldn't believe it, she didn't want to believe it. All this time, going through all those experiments at Torchwood, building and testing the dimension cannon, finding out the whole of reality was collapsing, the realities she'd encountered were literally turning to dust.

The stars going out.

She came here, back to her universe and back to the man she loved. Now, Rose would never have the chance with him, in a few minutes he'd have changed again.

The light from the regeneration faded and a new man stood there. He had a younger face, somewhere in his early to mid twenties, darker hair that was more floppy and he was taller. His eyes were a greenish colour.

Blinking dazedly, he looked at his legs. Picking one up, he cried, " Legs, still got legs. Good."

He took in the basics of his new form, like Susan did, that reminded Rose that she needed to find out more about his granddaughter and why he said nothing about her.

" Arms, hands -oooh, fingers, fingers, lots of fingers. Ears, yes. Eyes, two. Nose, oh I've had worse. Chin, blimey. Hair…..I'm a girl. No, I'm not a girl."

After declaring that his gender wasn't different, the new Doctor turned to face the others in the room with him. Susan came close to him.

" Susan ?"

She smiled, sadly that he'd just lost a life, " Hi grandfather, is it me, or is it that all your regenerations keep getting younger ?" she finished mockingly.

The Doctor glared at her, " Don't start." he said with mock anger.

Susan shrugged, just as Rose elbowed past, she too was glaring.

" I told you, you couldn't, that I didn't ever want you to change."

The Doctor looked at her for a moment, then jumped so hard Rose did as well, " Yeah, I've forgotten something," dashing past the bewildered Rose and amused Susan, he grabbed hold of Jack and Donna by the shoulders.

" Something important…." the Doctor looked up at the ceiling, damn the desktop theme needed changing, he mused.

" Daleks," Jack offered.

" Oh, yeah. Daleks," the Doctor's new features dropped into a scowl.

Susan stepped forward gingerly, " Grandfather, how are you feeling ?"

It was a stupid question. Regeneration was a very stressful time for a Time lord, the body needed time to settle in to the new form and the mind needed to settle in its new pattern.

Besides, from what she'd heard her grandfather's regenerations were turbulent and unpredictable.

The Doctor frowned, " Dunno, I feel better than I did the last time I regenerated. At least I didn't take the vortex into me again," he glared at Rose, who looked back defiantly.

Susan was about to launch into a load of questions, then the power just left the room. Susan checked the console, " They've got us in a chronon prison. Powers gone."

The Doctor launched himself at Jack and Donna, the latter looked stunned and slightly scared. The Doctor suppressed the urge to sigh, the last thing he needed was to prove to Donna who he was.

" It's me, Donna. Honestly. I'm still me, I've just had my cells taken apart and put back in a different order….Racnoss, Lance, you appeared inside the TARDIS, slapped my face after showing you a supernova. You had a go at Mr Halpen on behalf of the Ood. Your mother hates me. Do you believe me ?"

Donna looked at him thoughtfully, then laughed, " Yeah, god you look awful in that suit."

The Doctor looked down at himself, the suit was ill fitting on his new build.

" Oh, that's right. Clothes, need clothes. New man, new face, new clothes."

The Doctor flounced from the room. Susan followed him to make sure the outfit wasn't going to attract much attention.

Rose looked doubtful.

The Doctor returned to the room about 14 minutes later. Rose gawped incredulously at his outfit.

Donna shouted, " What are you wearing ?"

The outfit was a tweed jacket, teal coloured shirt with a blue bowtie, black trousers and black boots.

" What's wrong ?"

Rose stared at his bowtie in disgust, " The bowtie. It's just weird."

" Bowties are cool," the Doctor said miffed.

Susan had moved past the arguing lot and moved to the console, " We've got another 10 minutes before we arrive at the crucible. And Davros."

Susan's face dropped into a scowl at the name of the monster who created the Daleks.

The Doctor stood next to her, " What did you find out, aside from the zed neutrino core ?"

Susan stared him in the eye, " The thing is massive, about the same size as a small planet. They must've been here for years, building and planning all of this."

The Doctor looked thoughtful, " You're right, Daleks are efficient but even something like this, combined with their fleet and numbers…that would take some time to pull off. I bet they've looted the planets that've been here the longest of their mineral wealth."

Abruptly, he turned to Jack, " I want you and Susan to stay inside the TARDIS, Davros will want a word with me, probably to gloat, not just about his plan but also my new appearance. Susan, I want you to use the HADs, remember those stories of Time lords using TARDISes as weapons, bombs, suicide bombs and ramming their ships ?" At her nod, he carried on, " This chronon prison may have leeched the power system, but the HADs runs - "

" On a different system, I know," Susan rolled her eyes, a smile on her face.

The Doctor pulled himself up with dignity, " Yes, well," he struggled for words, finally he said, " Watch your manners, young lady."

Susan grinned.

Rose had had enough of this, she pushed Susan out of the way, ignoring the brunette's " hey !" and looked squarely into the Doctor's line of sight.

" Why didn't you tell me about her ?" Her folded arms in the defensive stance made her look more comic than frightening.

The Doctor's face was impassive, " Why do you want to discuss this now ? We've got more important things to worry about, Daleks, Davros, the end of reality as we know it. Ring any bells ?"

" I wanna know now. You never told me you had a granddaughter."

The Doctor's voice was cold, colder than the planet of the Ood, and certainly colder than the planet of ice the Meddling Monk had been stranded on once he discovered the Doctor had stolen his directional unit.

" I told you once that I was a father. Susan was born years ago from my perspective, from our perspectives," he added looking at his granddaughter's lovely new face.

Turning back to Rose, he asked, " What makes you think I wouldn't have had a family before I met you, a life ? Are you so arrogant you can't see that not every little aspect of my life doesn't revolve around you ? I didn't start my travels so I would meet you. Grow up Rose."

Turning back to the console, he declared, " We're there. All aboard," he said monotonously, like a captain on a ship that didn't have his heart in it.

As the TARDIS boarded the ship and clunked to a halt, the Doctor said to Susan, " Remember, stay here."

At that, a Dalek voice shouted, " Doctor, come forth and face your Dalek masters."

As he moved to the doors, he noticed no one else was following him, " Well, you coming ?"

Rose looked at him accusingly, " You said nothing can get through those doors."

Jack added in his own two pence, " You've got extrapolator shielding."

Susan rolled her eyes.

" Wake up, the TARDIS power systems support those systems. Without power, they're gone. Besides, this is a fully fledged Dalek empire at the height of its power, they are geniuses at fighting TARDISes. That door is wood, basically." Susan said matter of fact.

The Dalek Voice shouted again, " Come forth Doctor."

The Doctor nodded, " Right, ok, Susan you and Jack stay here. Protect the TARDIS, I want it back in one piece, more or less, when this is over."

Jack nodded, the professional soldier in him obeying his commanding officer.

Susan nodded.

" Right," he said again, " Let's go."

As soon as they stepped out of the TARDIS, the Doctor grinned. To anybody else, they'd think he was genuinely glad to see the Daleks.

Not so, the hatred was in his eyes, more pronounced now than ever.

" Hello boys, happy to see me ? Then again, its not possible for you to be happy. That would require emotions, you know - love, pride, hate, fear." he recited, dimly aware of the time his 1st self said them in his last adventure to the Cybermen.

The supreme Dalek - the Doctor wondered whether this Dalek was more like those macho men on Earth, the massive casing, the deeper voice and the unusual elements to the casing made it more likely it was done the way the Dalek prime of the past, to make it look bigger and nastier - looked at him with something like suspicion. It was difficult because the eye stalk couldn't so emotions.

" You have regenerated, Doctor." It said in its big, deep, booming voice.

The Doctor shrugged, almost as if the matter meant nothing to him, " Yeah, brilliant deduction, Holmes. How did you figure that out ? The hair, the clothes, " he looked down at himself before looking back up at the disgusting abomination in front of him, " What ? One of your troops on the ground shot me. It was a near miss and I'm lucky to be alive. Where's Davros ? I'd have thought he'd be here."

" Davros is in the vault."

" Vault ? " the Doctor smiled, a suspicion coming to his mind, " Don't tell me he's buggered it up again."

Donna decided to get some answers, " What do you mean, buggered it up again ?"

Still smiling, the Doctor replied, " Simple, originally Davros wanted to rule through the Daleks. But he forgot one thing, he programmed them to see other forms of life as inferior. The stupid fool was shot at point blank range. The Daleks, unaware the disgusting freak was still alive, continued. They later revived him, big mistake, especially when he found out they'd lost a war in a simple way. He created two new Dalek races, more advanced than the originals. They obeyed him without question. Unfortunately, because he kept meeting me, his plans kept going down the drain."

The Doctor's sneer was so pronounced they could cut it with a knife, " Why does he bother ? You treat him like any other father, well in many ways he is your father. You expect him to solve all your problems cos your too damn lazy to do it yourselves-"

" Silence,"

The Doctor kept up his argument, " Once he's finished, you lock him up-"

" I said Silence !" The Dalek leader roared in its mechanical grating voice.

The Doctor fell silent, just as the Daleks turned their attention to his TARDIS, the eyestalk lens narrowed.

" Your weapon is to be destroyed."

The Doctor looked between the TARDIS and the Daleks, " Why bother ? It's defunct, my ship wont work because you've cut the power system."

The Dalek ignored him, " It is Time lord weaponry and it shall be destroyed."

The TARDIS dropped through a trapdoor.

The Doctor looked at the Dalek coldly, hoping Susan was ready, if the TARDIS vanished before it reached the core the ruse would be discovered.

A holographic screen lit up, showing what looked like a small sun, the TARDIS itself was in the centre of the screen. The Doctor felt a twinge of pain in his hearts and gripped them. He feigned agony as he watched what the Daleks believed to be the end of the last TARDIS.

This had to work.

Suddenly the TARDIS vanished. The Doctor recognised it as a HADs dematerialisation.

He feigned rage and pain, ignoring the taunts from the Dalek Supreme.

" Your gonna regret that. You will. By the time I'm finished with your filthy ilk, I'll rip you out of that casing and throw you into that zed neutrino reactor."

The Supreme Dalek was unimpressed by the threat, " Take them to the vault, they are the playthings of Davros now."

" Ok, not the mental image I want," The Doctor thought as they left the room.

As they left the Supreme Dalek had time to think, how did the Doctor know that the crucible was powered by zed neutrino energy ?


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer - Guess what, I OWN Doctor Who. No, I don't. I just own this story and hope that the BBC will bring back the likes of Susan, the Rani and Romana - the three greatest Time lords ever. **

**But my stories and the ones written by Ace of Gallifrey, hope you're well by the way Ace, will have to suffice.**

**On with the story.**

**Davros. **

Davros smiled as he regarded the Doctor, it looked more like a sneer really, oh well.

" You have regenerated Doctor," he said, unaware that was the exact sentence uttered by the supreme Dalek when it first laid its eyestalk on the Time lord.

The Time lord in question held the crippled megalomaniac in an emotionless stare, his stance loose.

" You seem to have trouble maintaining one single form." Davros finished.

The Doctor looked at the Kaled scientist, " Not my fault if one of your grunts can't shoot straight. Then again, I once saw your Imperial Daleks, remember them, the Daleks in that white and gold number ? - trying to destroy the ones you created originally. Just goes to show you, Davros, that your so called remarkable creations are not that remarkable."

Davros seemed to glare at him. The Doctor smiled and carried on, " Anyway, you're not in charge. How does it feel, knowing that once again your creations are using you ?"

Now Davros was mad, " They do not use -"

" Oh, do shut up," the Doctor sniffed disdainfully, then ploughed on, " The supreme Dalek used the word " vault " twice, then again, looking around there seems to be plenty of Dalek guards. I know you, Davros, you love being in the centre of power. You wouldn't let a mere Dalek, no matter how jumped up they are, be in power, let alone run an operation like this. I know why you're doing this, capturing humans, keeping 27 planets in a small empire, a core of zed neutrino energy."

Davros looked astonished, " How did you find out ?"

It was clear that he'd wanted to gloat his latest scheme.

The Doctor smirked, keeping Susan out of this hell, " Time lord knowledge, you can't beat it," he sent a warning look that even Donna couldn't miss. Rose looked defiant.

Just then, the Doctor collapsed, gasping in pain, Davros smiled whilst Donna and Rose called to him. Raising his head, he breathed out a stream of gold particles.

" Does it hurt, Doctor," Davros asked almost caringly, even though the act was hypocritical since the evil scientist had no such morals.

" Does it hurt, dying, coming back, dying, coming back ?"

The Doctor glared at him, " Why the hell should you care, you wouldn't understand in a million years."

Davros smiled again

Susan was working on the rapidly regenerating TARDIS console as the time machine went back to Earth. Susan directed the TARDIS back to Cardiff, where the ship would be placed along the rift and use the energy to regenerate itself.

It didn't take much to persuade the TARDIS to obey her, she just needed to imprint herself on the ship.

Jack protested the instant they stepped out into the hub, " Why are we here ? The Doctor needs us,"

Susan looked at him squarely, " The TARDIS needs time to repair itself, besides I have a sort of plan to defeat the Daleks and I can't do it with the TARDIS looking like that," she finished, pointing at the police box.

Ianto came over, his eyes wide, " Damn I'm glad you 2 are back," he drew them into a hug.

As soon as he let them go, he led them to where the door was. In the entrance was a Dalek with what looked like machine gun shells suspended in space in front of it.

Susan blinked, the entrance looked like it was a blurry 3d image without the glasses, time was distorted here.

She looked at Ianto, " It was a security system devised by Tosh, didn't know she'd even finished it but I'm glad she did."

Susan stared thoughtfully at the Dalek, delighted she wouldn't hear that voice she hated, " And if you tamper with it, the field will collapse."

" And the Dalek will be free, yes." Ianto agreed.

Susan nodded, " Right, I just need to use my TARDIS, Ianto, I want you to stay here, we might need the rift at some point."

Davros had left the Doctor and his companion - Rose didn't count anymore, the way he felt about her now. The Doctor looked around the room, thinking about everything that had occurred.

The recent regeneration meant his body was still cooking, for lack of a better term. His personality had more or less stabilised, but his mind was still numb from the shock. He felt it was an improvement, his control was still shoddy, but at least he'd kept his mind off dying. Instead, it went to his granddaughter. He was still curious about how she'd survived, it was possible she survived the same way he had, but instead she'd hidden herself inside a pocket watch.

Maybe her TARDIS had been damaged and it needed time to itself.

The Doctor shook his head, focusing his mind on what needed doing. Susan had a basic plan, he knew, but he couldn't be sure.

He was just glad that she had been inside the TARDIS when the Daleks had dumped it.

His eyes found those of Rose, who was staring at him with an emotion he couldn't identify.

He turned his attention to Donna, " Well, new me. How do I look ?"

Donna smirked, " Like a girl," she said snidely, but the Doctor knew that she was faking it.

" Hey, I'm not a girl, I checked. Got an Adam's apple," the Doctor snickered.

Donna looked at him thoughtfully, " How does it feel, dying like that ?" she asked quietly with that compassion that was so typically Donna.

The Doctor sighed, " It hurts, each and every time. It feels like I've been shoved into a meat grinder and put back in a different order."

" Now that you've….changed," Donna struggled for the right word then carried on, " How do you feel now ?"

Sighing again, the Doctor explained, " I no longer like pinstripes, I think I've gotten over the Time war, partially, anyway. Losing your home is a heart breaking experience and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I hate the Daleks, more than my old self ever did. I no longer love Rose," he added, noting Rose's look of shock, " I dunno, maybe I'm not suited for anyone."

" That's not what you thought of me before," Rose finally said, glaring at him.

" Oh, how would you know ?" The Doctor shot back.

" You love me, or at least you did until you changed again. I told you - "

" Yeah, I know. Never change again. What made you think it wouldn't happen ? Its like your biology Rose, you can't stop it's needs anymore than I can stop aging and regenerating."

" You are not my Doctor, you're floppy and that bowtie, it's just freaky."

The Doctor looked at her coldly, " If you think my bowtie is freaky do you wanna know what I think about the things you do ?" The Doctor shrugged nonchalantly, " It's started, once again, Rose Tyler had once more given up on me."

" I never gave up on you," Rose protested.

" Yes you did !" The Doctor shouted, ignoring the Daleks. " Every time something happened to me, whether I was knocked unconscious, injured or whatever, you gave up."

The Doctor went silent and then decided to pour out poison at Rose, even though this wasn't the best of times to do it. Then again, he'd rather let her know that their current situation was down to her.

" How long did it take you to come back ?" he asked quietly.

Rose was startled by the question and it took a moment for her to reply, " Torchwood R & D devised a dimension cannon," she didn't notice his wince. It put him in mind of the cannons you found on sailing ships, he could just imagine it to have a similar effect to a cannon ball.

Rose ploughed on, ignoring as always the Doctor's thoughts, " We've been working on it for 4 years - "

She was interrupted by a very angry Doctor, " Did it never occur to you to stop what you were doing ?"

Again, the defiance was back in Rose's eyes, " What d'ya mean ? I was trying to come back to you."

The Doctor took a deep breath, " Didn't you hear what Davros said over the sub wave network ? About Dalek Caan, the last of the cult of Skaro ? He flew into the Time war, did it never once occur to you to ask me why I didn't go back ? I can't, I physically can't, the war was quarantined by the universe itself. A Time lock, an impenetrable barrier. Nothing can get in or out. Nothing. Image my surprise when I learnt that a Dalek, using a basic temporal teleport, managed it. It was down to you, Rose. You're responsible for all this."

He was delighted to see Rose's look of stunned shock.

Jack was looking around Susan's TARDIS.

It was similar in many ways to the Doctor's - it had the console, the time rotor and the circular layout. But that was where the similarities ended. This TARDIS was obviously a more superior model to the Doctor's, then again Susan had said she'd taken the Master's TARDIS, and if there was anything he'd learnt about the evil Time lord, it was that he needed to have the flashiest items he could get to make himself more superior.

Jack hadn't been welcomed with metaphorical open and welcoming arms, the TARDIS had needed to be persuaded to let him in.

Susan was standing by the console, holding the strange contraption she'd been working on. It was a combination of a camcorder, a pair of small binoculars and what looked like some kind of blaster.

" What're you workin' on ?"

Susan had been concentrating on one of the circuits when Jack disturbed her, she still wasn't happy about him inside her TARDIS, the fixed point in time and space thing made him stand out. But she did need help and her human self had been fond of Jack.

Gwen Cooper's relationship with Rhys Williams had gone down the toilet when he realised how much danger was present in Gwen's not quite ordinary career.

Susan still felt that pain, coupled with the pain of losing David to the Master and the Daleks….

Susan pulled herself out of her trance and focused her mind on what Jack had asked, " I'm trying to build a combination of time loop generator and a staser with an inbuilt zed neutrino bio inversion catalyser. Davros," he she adjusted a control on the time loop device, " said that he'd created the Daleks out of cells of his own body," Jack shuddered, the image not doing wonders for his stomach.

Susan ploughed on, knowing how the immortal Time agent felt but deciding to carry on with her monologue, " He's also planning on wiping out the whole of reality with the zed neutrino energy. The time loop will bottle the energy up and with the aid of this, combined with the staser, will kill Davros forever, ridding the universe of his filth and doing the same to the Daleks."

Jack grinned as he thought out the plan, " Brilliant ! You're a genius !"

Then, his face fell, " How're we gonna get close to use it ? Wouldn't the loop be damaged ?"

Susan smiled, " I thought of that, materialise around the section and focus the energy right into the loop…."

" Then the energy will be collected, but what about the TARDIS ?"

Susan knew what he was asking, the plan in that department was tricky but it was simpler, " Simple, the wavelength will be narrow, like an oxy-acetylene flame, and I can absorb the lot inside the loop. The loop itself has no bearing on distance and will collect the energy."

She sat down on the chair near the console, using tools to make the occasional adjustment, " As for the part about getting close, why do you think we're using my TARDIS ?"

At once, Jack caught on, " The chameleon circuit works."

" Exactly, " the young Time lady said, glancing at him before getting back to her work, " The Daleks, whilst aware of the technology, were used and still is used to the police box. They think TARDIS, they think blue box. Besides, there'll be a small space time displacement in the place Davros is when we land. Oh," she pointed to a box, " few things in there you should be interested in."

Jack walked over to the box, which up close, he saw as a sea chest. Opening it curiously, he found a load of weapons, pieces of Sontaran heat rays, Ice Warrior sonic disruptors, cyber guns.

Finally, his eyes widened when he saw what looked like a combination Dalek gun, Cyber gun, Sontaran plasma assault rifle and a sonic squareness gun.

He picked it up, it was surprisingly light in his arms, " I like this,"

Susan came over, " Half this crap was still here when I took the TARDIS from the Master. I kept one or two of them handy, just in case I ran into one or two of the races these came from. The gun you're holding is an accelerator, the bolt destroys everything it comes across. Speaking of which, could you pass me the compact laser deluxe."

The Doctor and Rose were in the middle of a staring - or glaring, Donna couldn't tell, all she was wondering was how Rose could be responsible for all of this.

" How can Rose be responsible for this Doctor ?" She asked.

Without taking his eyes off Rose, the Doctor explained. " Picture two panes of glass, take a small hammer and bash it. The glass starts to crack on both sides. That's the image I picture the walls of reality as, a pane of glass. It would take something very special and unique to pass through a time lock, nothing in this universe. But in another it's just possible."

He glared at Rose, " You arrogantly broke through reality, all for a worthless crush. Was it worth it, all realities in jeopardy ? Davros out of the Time war ? A new Dalek race ? A weapon that'll wipe out all life without stopping or dissipating ? All to come back to me ?"

The Doctor shook his head, his new floppy hair getting into his eyes, damn that would take getting used to.

" I don't accept it, I never will."

Rose managed to get her voice back, " But, I was trying to get back, to you. Not that it matters now," she added, looking in disgust at the new Doctor.

Donna looked in confusion at her, " What the hell's the matter with you ? He's an alien, he can travel in space and time, he's got a box that's bigger on the inside. Why shouldn't he change his face ?"

" Especially since I've done it before, " The Doctor added.

Donna couldn't believe this, " You mean this isn't the first time this had happened ?"

The Doctor's glare told Rose to stay quiet, " This is the tenth time this has happened, I'm the eleventh Doctor. The Doctor you knew was my tenth incarnation, Rose's problem is that she witnessed my last regeneration."

Donna felt sad that the Doctor she knew was gone, she'd already known he was old but not that old.

The Doctor looked at Rose, his eyes cold and suspicious, " Why can't you accept my ability to regenerate ? You've known for heaven alone knows how long, since the universe you've been living in, time goes faster. I remember the time the Sycorax attacked Earth, the time you told your mother you kept forgetting I wasn't human. The time you said I'd left you, I may've been unconscious but don't ever insult my intelligence. I heard every word. Those words killed any chance I may've had with you."

The Doctor looked at Rose, " You're a bigot, you can't accept anything that isn't pink or in your case, yellow. You have this stupid little fantasy world where you're the queen of your little existence. In that sense, you're just like that thing on the Crucible. Davros and you have just one thing in common, you both live in dream worlds. The only one difference is he doesn't hide his evil behind the pepper pot abominations he created."

Rose's eyes started tearing up, her heart had broken in thousands of pieces.

The Doctor's next words shattered them into atoms, " When we're done, you're going back."

Davros's voice interrupted them, " Much as I actually enjoy your meaningless, petty squabbles Doctor, there are more pressing matters."

Davros's chair glided closer to them, his withered face stretched in the grimace of a smile. The triumph in his voice was so thick that Doctor could cut it with a sword.

" The reality bomb ?" The Doctor asked.

He guessed correctly.

" Precisely, Doctor. The triumph and the crowning triumph of my genius."

Davros made a gesture and a holographic screen appeared. On it were human prisoners with their hands behind their heads. They were crowded into the centre of the room, directly below a glowing green device.

The Doctor watched in growing horror as they started…fading. As they faded, he noticed they were turning to dust and the dust seemed to fade.

He turned slowly to face Davros, the evil scientist was watching the screen, his face set in the same fanatical mask the Time lord had seen on many occasions.

The Doctor turned to face Rose, " Now do you see what your meddling has done ? I hold you responsible for those people. Not that you care about them." He said in a cold tone.

Rose looked back at him, her face set in a mask. There was no sign of remorse, like there would be on a normal human being and Donna saw it for the first time.

Rose Tyler was an utter bitch.

Davros's voice broke through their thoughts, " Well Doctor, now that you've seen my latest creation, speaking as men of science, what is your opinion ? The concept for the reality bomb is simply staggering, is it not ?"

The Doctor's glare was more eloquent that words, " Why ?"

Davros's voice was puzzled, " I do not understand - "

The Doctor's shout interrupted him, " Yes you do, you know exactly what I'm gonna ask, why destroy the cosmos ?"

" Need you ask ?" Davros wheeled his chair closer to the Doctor, " I have long since believed that co-operation between different races is impossible, the war on Skaro is proof of that."

Donna just had to ask. " Skaro, what's that ? What war ?"

The Doctor answered her, " Skaro. The home of the Daleks, or was before I destroyed it."

" yes, with the Hand of Omega that you tricked me with."

Putting his face in his hands, the Doctor groaned, " Not that again, I told you, you tricked yourself."

Turning back to Donna, he kept his monologue on, " The war Davros is talking about is the war between the Kaleds and the Thals. The Kaleds, Davros's people before he betrayed his own people, were fighting a long and never ceasing war with the Thals. There was a dirty nuclear war and the mutations of the war were accelerated by our friend here," he gestured to Davros. " After that, the Kaleds died out, leaving behind the Daleks."

The Doctor turned to face Davros, " So, do tell ? What's the point of all this ?"

" The Time war, Doctor. The war against the Thals paled in comparison, it proved my hypothesis that one race and only one race could survive. I intend that race to be the Daleks. If that means wiping out all of reality, then so be it."

The Kaled scientist moved closer to Rose, " I thank you, my dear. Thank you for allowing Dalek Caan to enter the Time war with your dimensional experiments."

Rose looked startled, " How did - ?"

" How did I know ? Simple, the temporal shift allowed Dalek Caan's already shattered mind to see through the dimensional cracks. He observed you, miss Tyler, breaking through the barriers of over 14 realities."

The Doctor broke in at that point, " 14 realities ? You broke through the walls of 14 realities. Brilliant, just brilliant. Just when I thought that this couldn't get worse it does."

" Stop moaning."

" Stop moaning ?" the Doctor was apocalyptic with rage, " Because of you, Davros is free and heaven knows how many other horrors are loose."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer - I don't own Doctor Who. Unfortunately, if I did, I would be asking for ideas from Ace of Gallifrey and others.**

**PS - I took this story down by accident trying to stop the italics and underlining quite a few people have complained about. I think I've stopped it, but thank you very much for pointing it out.**

**Talks and Plans.**

" So, tell me, what happened ?" Jack asked Susan as they travelled to the crucible.

Susan looked up, unsure what the question meant, " I'm sorry ?"

" You and the Doctor, how come you left ?" Jack clarified, sitting next to her.

Susan looked at him angrily, " Why the questions ?"

Jack held up his hands, seeing he'd intruded in personal ground, " Hey, I was just curious. I didn't mean to pry."

" Then don't ! I didn't leave him, he left me !"

Susan went quiet and Jack felt bad, but then Susan started talking.

" I left Gallifrey when I was very young, my grandfather took me travelling with him and I - I was upset. He took me, not realising that I just wanted a normal life. It wasn't until later, when I accepted my new life and saw the beauty of time travel."

" We'd stopped travelling for a time for repairs and - other matters, don't ask what, its past history, " she added, not wanting to alert the Time agent of the Hand of Omega.

Susan carried on with her monologue, " 1963. Being there and actually staying for a few months, it was fantastic. It was the happiest time of my life. Life on Gallifrey is very difficult, mostly because children are given duties and taught the fine lines of Time lord traditions. Two teachers, curious about me and my knowledge, followed me and discovered the TARDIS. Grandfather wasn't exactly cordial to the idea of travelling with others and kidnapped them. After a while, they settled in and we did the same."

Susan looked at her hands, " We landed on Earth, during a Dalek invasion. I wont bore you with what happened but I fell in love. David Campbell," her face and tone of voice took on a dreamy note, " He gave me a reason to stay. Unfortunately, the incarnation of the Doctor that I'd been with had a problem. He believed in his own judgement and didn't bother asking my opinion."

Susan stood up and walked close to the console, " I married him. We spent 30 years together, 30 wonderful years. But there was a problem."

Jack wondered aloud, " What problem ?"

" Aging," Susan said simply, " Time lords age much less slowly than a human. While I stayed young, David aged like a normal man."

She turned to face Jack, " We had this row about a party, but then I got a call from an organisation that had been set up for the sole purpose of dealing with Dalek technology that had been left behind. I found that a bunch of idiots had been diverting power to this artefact. Whilst investigating, they kidnapped me, I think they murdered someone who resembled me at that point."

" Whilst inside, I found out who was behind all of it."

" The Master," Jack said in a matter of fact sort of tone.

Susan nodded, " He brought the Daleks back, right in the middle of a political upheaval."

Jack looked at her curiously, " What was he after ?"

" A matter transmuter."

Jack looked awed, " I can imagine that as something the Master would want, with that he could - " the implications were staggering.

" He could convert a sun into iron, making it go nova or turn any mass into uranium, killing life all over the planet." Susan said grimly.

Her lovely face took on an ugly expression, " The Master unleashed the Daleks, just to gain access to it, shot my grandfather and killed David. Any chance I had of making it up to him ended with the bullets that hit him."

It took Susan a short amount of time to regain her composure, but she managed it.

Just.

On the crucible, Sarah Jane Smith was looking out of the glass window out in the room where the human prisoners had been…..dissolved.

She was standing next to Mickey Smith, who was glaring with pure hatred at the Daleks that were still in the chamber, fortunately, they hadn't seen them.

Sarah regained her composure, " Right, I've had enough of the Daleks, it's time someone did something about them. What do you say Mickey ? Jackie ?"

Jackie Tyler was looking at the chamber, remembering the unfortunate woman whom she'd tried to help. Now she was gone.

They were just about to make plans when they heard a familiar sound.

The TARDIS was materialising. But it wasn't the police box they were expecting, instead it was a pale grey box with a door.

The door opened and Captain Jack strode out, " Well, well, well, we find human life signatures and what do we find ? Mickey Mouse."

" You can talk, Captain Cheesecake." Mickey retorted.

With that, both men hugged one another and Jack made one of those lame innuendo's.

" And that's enough hugging," Mickey replied, getting out of Jack's grip. Susan and Sarah caught each other's eyes.

Susan moved closer to the human she'd met only briefly, " Hey Sarah…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say.

Sarah moved so fast she was almost a blur. Time lords had tremendous power over their bodies, so Sarah Jane's bear hug didn't affect Susan, but it did wind her slightly.

" I take it your happy to see me ?" Susan remarked.

Sarah looked her square in the eye, " I thought you and the other Time lords had died."

Susan nodded grimly, " Believe me, I almost did," she took out her pocket watch, " My TARDIS was heavily damaged, on top of that I'd regenerated. A TARDIS is programmed to protect the Time lord controller above all else, one minute I'm regenerating, the next I have a new body and I'm disorientated. Imagine my surprise and horror when the chameleon arch came down on my head."

Sarah was puzzled, " Chameleon what ?"

" Chameleon arch," Susan repeated, " it's a device that rewrites biology, turns a Time lord into …anything."

Mickey was slow to understand, " Time lord ? I thought that the Doctor was the last."

" Not quite," Susan replied with a bright smile.

Susan turned to face all of them, " Right, ok, I've got a plan to deal with the Daleks. Well, 2 plans." Here she looked right at Jackie and Mickey, almost as thought she'd just noticed they were there.

" I'm sorry, but you are….?" looking between the man and the woman.

The man introduced himself, " Mickey Smith, this is Jackie Tyler," he said, pointing unnecessarily to the woman.

Susan looked up at that, " Rose Tyler's mother ?"

Jackie nodded, " So ?"

Susan put her hands in her pockets, " Just one question, how long did it take Rose to set up the dimension transport she used to get here ?"

Jackie frowned at the question and Mickey answered, " Four years."

Susan was silent, then in a voice that showed her general contempt, she said, " Four years ? You let a girl who doesn't understand temporal mechanics play with things that are too dangerous. Didn't it occur to you that Rose was causing more harm than good."

Jackie's hackles started to rise and so Sarah decided to prevent the argument. A shouting match could get them all killed and put pay to any plans Susan had.

" What do you mean, harm, Susan ?" Sarah Jane asked calmly.

Susan folded her arms and explained, " The dimension cannon is like a sledgehammer smashing glass, small at first but enough to cause quite a bit of damage. The damage is this," Susan gestured around the service room they were stuck in, " Rose's meddling caused this, caused Davros to leave the Time war."

Susan looked incredulously around the confused human faces, " Dear god, please tell me it occurred to you to ask why the Time war wasn't raging through the universe ? The war is trapped, in a time lock. Its like a barrier, nothing can get in or out. In this universe, anyone trying to get in would fail, but if you were in another universe, playing around with a dimension cannon…."

Jack started to see where this was going, " Then you might be able to reach it !" His face was grim.

Sarah looked at him, " What is it ?"

Jack looked at her, " Has it never occurred to you to wonder about the horror of the Time war ? The legends talk of creatures and beings that can alter reality, bring people back to life only to resurrect them again. On top of that, you have the Daleks. They can't be reasoned with and no nothing of pity."

He looked at Jackie, knowing that his next words would almost kill her, " I'm sorry, Jackie, but you daughter is responsible for all of this."

* * *

The Doctor stood in the holding cell, watching as the Daleks milled about. He imagined they were preparing for their plan, the most heinous of all their schemes in the past.

Davros had gone somewhere else, probably to a room where he could watch and savour every poisonous word the Doctor threw and Rose, but right now the blonde was far from the time travellers mind.

He was busy thinking.

Thinking of the Time war, about the similarities between Rassilon's ultimate sanction and Davros's plan. Both plans were truly similar in many ways. For a start, both had been conceived by geniuses, they involved destroying reality, both plans involved the safety of one race and one race only and lastly, he would have to find a way of dealing with it.

Or rather, Susan would.

The Doctor mused about his granddaughter, she'd certainly come a long way since the war. From their telepathic conversation they'd had in the wardrobe room in the TARDIS, her TARDIS had been crippled, needing repair. She'd regenerating and once it was finished, in her disorientation, her TARDIS used the chameleon arch and turned her into a human.

Susan had been Gwyneth, the welsh serving girl his ninth incarnation had encountered not long after starting travelling with Rose. Instead of dying, her TARDIS had teleported her out with a wormhole. Reviving her and moving her forwards in time, her new identity as Gwen Cooper, policewoman, was assured.

Some may have thought that a Time lady working for Torchwood would've aroused some memories, but there was only so many words a Gallifreyan fob watch would allow to slip past the perception filter. Anything that came under Time lord lore - TARDIS, time vortex, regeneration, incarnations - were what was needed to bring the Time lord back.

The Doctor also pondered on the universe, the big wide universe. So full of life, so many possibilities - all lost if Davros succeeded. His tenth self hadn't wanted the Judoon anywhere near this, but the eleventh Doctor wondered, just wondered, whether or not the Dalek plan would've been affected.

Probably not, Dalek technology was greatly superior to that employed by the Judoon, besides, whilst the Daleks would've been slowed down they wouldn't have been stopped.

Being inside a force field meant a lot of thinking, the Doctor had no real alternative - his previous self had the delusion that the enemy could be persuaded to stop if they saw themselves carrying out their agenda's, the year that never was sprang to mind.

Of course the new Doctor was saddened by the loss of another regeneration, but he had something to vent his spleen on - Rose.

It was Rose, always Rose. His last two lives had had this romanticism about the girl, believing her to be a saviour, not so with the eleventh Doctor. He saw Rose as an unnecessary waste of space, because of her, he'd lost 2 of his lives and he wasn't planning on wasting anymore for her ever again.

Regenerating for the second time in her presence gave the Time lord a new insight into Rose's beliefs - when he'd first regenerated in Rose's line of sight, she'd been in understandable shock - Mel, Peri, Polly and Ben, Nyssa, Tegan, the Brigadier and Sarah Jane…they'd all watched him regenerate, yes, but did any of them tell him never to change again ?

No.

They understood that regeneration was a natural process of the Time lord life cycle, just as eating plant life was important to all forms of animal life.

Donna broke through, " Will he really go through with it ?"

The Doctor looked up, " Hmm ? What's that ?"

Rolling her eyes Donna carried on, at least one part of the Doctor's personality was still present, " Tavros, his plan will he go through with it."

" Davros," The Doctor corrected at once, " Oh, yes, he will. Davros is out of touch with reality. My ninth self told this collector of alien artefacts that Davros was the king of his own little world, like others I can name," he added, sending a look at Rose," Davros wants the Daleks to become the dominant species. Battles wont work, the Daleks have been there and done that. There's no real point in building a massive army and launching them across the galaxies, other races will fight back and cause severe resistance in some areas, slowing the Daleks down."

The Doctor gestured around the vault, " This is a shortcut, Davros's plan to eradicate life and make the Daleks the supreme beings at the same time. Simple but effective."

Rose still didn't understand how she could be responsible for this, " How can you blame me, after all I've done for you ?"

" Such as ?" The Doctor asked, cocking his head, " What've you ever done for me ? You've cost me 2 of my lives, even going so far as to tell me never to change again, you kept giving up on me whenever I was out of the picture. You put yourself in danger in order to get me to rescue you, putting myself at risk. You lacked independence. I watched the Torchwood records, Rose, you took psychic paper and tried to use that in order to bluff your way past. You ignored me telling you to stay in the TARDIS on so many occasions, even hanging from a barrage balloon !"

The Doctor glared at Rose, his anger and patience nearing their limits, " And whatever you do, do not get me started on the Bad wolf."

" I saved you !" Rose protested.

" Did you ? I lost a life, all due to a message and incident that you had no intent or even ability to think of, let alone pull off !" The Doctor shouted., his patience lost. He'd honestly wanted to say nothing to Rose for a while but she just didn't take the hint.

" I would've thought of the Bad wolf," Rose started, her eyes tearing up.

The Doctor looked at the girl that his previous selves had adored. He felt nothing for her, only contempt. " Would you ?" He asked quietly before carrying on.

" It still isn't sinking in, is it ? It was a _paradox _Rose, do you remember that ? Do you remember screwing up your own past to save your father. You couldn't even pull that off properly."

" Don't start on my dad, you freak !"

The Doctor looked vindicated, a small, self satisfied smile playing on his face, " You've just proven my point Rose. You're not suited to travel in time. Not with that attitude."

Rose looked confused, but Donna was starting to understand. Rose was a bigot, she wouldn't accept the fact that other races out in the universe looked different and acted different. Whilst the new Doctor may look…unusual, Donna had accepted him.

Rose hadn't and Donna didn't imagine the girl would ever return to the TARDIS.

Not if the Doctor had his way.

* * *

Sarah Jane Smith had been experienced with aliens for many years, but her experience with Time lords left much to be desired.

She'd met Susan only once and that meeting had been brief, but it had been enough for her to get an idea of the girl. Sarah looked around the TARDIS Susan now owned.

It was similar in many ways to the Doctor's, but because of her limited experience with other Time lords it was hard for her to see the differences.

The Time lords, to Sarah, had always been omnipotent, always there and always watching. Sarah remembered vividly the number of times they'd interfered with the Doctor's life and she remembered each and everyone of those rants.

Now they were gone, he and Susan were all that was left of probably the most powerful race in the universe. Except for the Master, but from what she'd heard, he'd been shot.

" It's certainly different," Mickey remarked.

" I can't tell the difference, what's so special between this TARDIS and the Doctor's ?" Jackie asked.

Susan looked up from her work on the console at the question, " This is a mark 2 TARDIS, my grandfather favours a mark 1."

Sarah Jane was puzzled, " Why does he use an outdated model ?"

Susan smirked, " He failed his TARDIS license test. 4 times."

Jack decided to change the subject whilst the others laughed, it made a lot of sense, like why the Doctor always seemed to end up in the wrong time and place.

" So, what now ?"

Susan glanced at him before pointing at the chair, the bio inversion catalyser was right on top of the chair.

" We're going to pop forward in time a little bit. I have the time co-ordinate and then we can siphon the power off."

" Wont the Daleks detect us ?" Sarah Jane asked fearfully.

Susan smirked again, " Not unless we're very quick. Besides, the TARDIS computers will plant a nice little virus into the crucible's computer system. They'll think their getting a result before the virus attacks other systems."

Mickey just needed to ask, " Are you making this up as we go a long ?"

Susan smiled mysteriously but didn't answer.

10 minutes later.

" Right, we're there." Susan said, gesturing at the scanner where the reality bomb covers unfurled, like the petals of a flower. Although in this case, the flower was deadly.

Picking up the inversion catalyser, Susan fumbled with the controls, " Right Jack, remember the controls I showed you ?" Jack nodded, remembering the brief lessons Susan had given him when they'd been travelling through time.

" Good, shields and virus first, watch for the green light here," she pointed. " Then dematerialisation after a few minutes."

It was scary, Susan thought to herself. Hanging outside a TARDIS, holding on just to a rope, holding a bio inversion catalyser and absorbing zed neutrino energy. The time loop was stretching to accommodate the energy but that was fine, the dial on the side was telling her that the catalyser was attracting the energy into on massive pulse. Susan looked at the calibration of the device and was satisfied.

" Susan, green light." Jack shouted from the console.

Susan grinned and then switched off the device.

The deception was on and now revenge on Davros.


	8. Chapter 8

**Bringing together the Children of Time. **

"…_and one of them shall die!" _

Davros smiled at the shattered form of Dalek Caan whilst the Doctor, Rose and Donna listened to the insane sole survivor of the Cult of Skaro.

The Doctor's face dropped into a scowl as he heard the prophecy, but what it meant was something he might never truly understand.

Sighing, he put the prophecy together in his mind, rewinding the words and trying to figure out their meanings. Unfortunately, the whole thing had been rather vague, hardly surprising, considering the fact that Caan's mind was shattered.

_And one of them shall die_….

The Doctor shuddered as he thought of those words. He'd seen so many people die over the centuries, some of them friends of his - Katarina, Sara Kingdom, Bret Vyon, Adric…..

_And one of them shall die….._

He couldn't imagine what he'd do if something happened to Susan, oh, please don't let it be her, I've only just gotten her back.

Jack would be alright, he couldn't die.

Donna, Martha, on the other hand….oh please, no, not again. I can't lose anyone else.

_And one of them shall die….._

Susan was setting the controls of the TARDIS, preparing for the inevitable battle with the Daleks.

Finally, she stepped back from the console with a sigh but a smile was on her face, " Right, ok, I've set up the computer virus and its ready for transmission."

Mickey grunted, " Ok, but you still haven't told us the plan."

Susan sighed, realising that they needed to be told but was worried that they wouldn't have time, which was slightly stupid since they were inside a machine that could travel in time and space.

" I want to state 3 points, setting this plan into motion he needed 27 planets with an alignment field controlling the whole thing, if the Daleks could hollow out the core of a planet, and use it like a spaceship then a technology to shape them into a transmitter that dissolves matter is nothing.

" Second, Davros used his own cells to grow a new Dalek race, this means that if the major DNA source is destroyed then they would as well. I intend to take advantage of that and wipe Davros out completely, taking with him the Daleks. Z neutrino energy, whilst an asset, would be a massive problem for Davros once it hit him."

Susan looked at her captivated audience, " Third, the Daleks are aware of one Time lord. My grandfather, he's accounted for. I'm not. I plan to take advantage of that and deal with Davros and the Daleks. Hopefully the universe would be ridded of them forever."

Susan grinned, " My plan is simple, I've already absorbed the z neutrino energy inside a time loop which will be looped ten minutes, 4 have passed. The last 6 are crucial and we have a helper, the virus I mentioned just a moment ago. The virus is specially designed to attack Dalek technology - little things, lights, artificial gravity, static electricity power feeds - they'll all malfunction, until they fail completely."

She leaned forward, " Now, listen closely. I will say this only once."

" This is Martha Jones of the UNified Intelligence Taskforce, representing the Human race, this message is for the Dalek crucible. Repeat, can you hear me ?"

The Doctor looked up as the holographic viewer which showed the testing of the reality bomb on the Human prisoners, only this time the image was much more pleasant, Martha Jones, the nightingale who'd helped him in Farringham, only his tenth self had been too smitten with the bigot that was Rose Tyler to see Martha as the angel she truly was. An opportunity wasted, because his previous self couldn't get over an infatuation.

Martha's face was grim and set, but determined. Whatever she was doing the Doctor knew that it wasn't good.

Davros spoke, his voice smug with triumph, " It begins as Dalek Caan foretold."

Dalek Caan seemed as smug as his creator, " Te children of time will gather. And one of them will die."

" Shut up, Put me though." the Doctor snapped.

Davros glided forward, " The Doctor is my prisoner. State you intent."

Martha looked into the vault as the com line was established two way. All she could see were Daleks and Davros. Then she saw Donna, the only person she knew. Standing next to her was a blonde woman wearing a blue leather jacket.

The final figure was a tall, lanky man with floppy dark hair, wearing a tweed jacket, dark trousers, boots and …was that a bowtie ? She had nothing against the fashion, it was just unusual.

" No, he isn't," she responded, ignoring Davros' order. He'd find out anyway, so he might as well be patient. " I know the Doctor, tall, thin, pinstriped jacket, he's not there. Where is he ? What have you done with him ?"

The man sighed, " It's me, Martha. A Dalek shot me in the side, causing regeneration to take place."

Martha's breathing became shallow, " Doctor ?"

The man gave a sad smile in return, " Martha Jones, the best medical practitioner in the universe. What are you doing anyway ?"

Martha stared at him in sadness and held up a piece of plastic with intricate circuitry, " The Osterhagen key. There's a chain of 25 nuclear warheads in key points all around the planet. This key will detonate it, ripping the Earth apart."

The Doctor stared at her in shock and horror, " Martha, are you absolutely serious ? Please tell me you wont use it." He pleaded.

" Doctor, I have no choice. I heard you, over the sub wave network, you…detected the z neutrino energy, " Martha covered up the fact it had been Susan that had detected the energy and deduced the Dalek's latest plan.

The Doctor would be eternally grateful that Martha hadn't betrayed Susan's presence, if the Daleks found out then she was as good as dead.

As for Martha, she was more than aware of how much being the last of his kind affected him, she still had memories of how the Doctor reacted when the Master died, she'd never seen him so distraught, so heartbroken.

Then Jenny….

Martha regretted that she hadn't truly met the girl but from she'd seen she was a younger version of the Doctor. When she was shot Martha had felt a profound sense of déjà vu, it was the Master all over again, only this time the Doctor was distraught over flesh and blood that solely came from him.

Martha's own heart had broken for the Doctor again when he'd desperately tried to reassure himself that Jenny would and could possibly regenerate, only for Martha to shoot that down. Martha was a doctor, a medical practitioner, but she was also a realist.

She didn't know for sure how much of a Time lord Jenny had been, she might've only inherited only so much or so little of the Doctor. The machine which conceived her probably couldn't handle the complexity of Time lord DNA, Martha understood enough of Time lord biology to know it was extremely complex.

It might've done, then again, it might not have been able to fully assimilate the Doctor's DNA for regeneration to be possible.

Now, Martha was wiser and she wasn't going to make a mistake and betray the Doctor, not with Susan so close. The Doctor's face when he talked of his home, his family….his face when the Master had been shot by Lucy Saxon and Jenny when she was taken in the same way as the evil Time lord….Martha had no intention of letting him down.

She'd made a mistake, letting Yana know about the watch and bringing about the Year that Never was, even though it was completely out of her control.

Martha wasn't going to make that mistake with the Doctor's granddaughter.

Martha carried on, aware that tears are welling up in her eyes, " The Osterhagen Key was designed to end Humanity's suffering, that this becomes the final option."

The Doctor's voice was cold, cold with anger, not at Martha, with UNIT. How could they get it so wrong ? The Doctor often wondered about the organisation, whether or not it recalled the numerous times aliens had tried to turn Earth to a pile of rocks, then again they probably did.

" That's never an option." he said directly to Martha. She responded in kind.

Martha's voice was just as angry on her reply, " Don't argue with me, Doctor ! 'cause it's more than that. Now, I reckon that Daleks need these 27 planets for something," she was careful to conceal the fact she knew of the reality bomb thanks to Susan, " but what if becomes 26 ? What happens then ?"

She held up the key, her voice defiant and trembling with rage but the Doctor knew it wasn't directed at him.

" Daleks ? Would you risk it ?"

Rose spoke up at that point, her disdain for Martha and the other companions of the Doctor pushed aside for the time being for some bizarre reason, " Oh, she's good."

The Doctor and Donna glared at her, " Oi, she's talking about destroying _Earth, _our _planet_ and all you can say is she's _good_ ?" Donna snapped at her.

She was getting truly fed up with Rose's callousness.

The Doctor added his own thoughts, they were just like Donna's. " Martha's talking about destroying the world, can you see a smile on her face ?'cause I can't."

Martha was puzzled, " Who's that ?"

Rose, ignoring the disgust from the others in the vault, barring Davros and the Daleks of course, replied, " My name's Rose. Rose Tyler." her voice at the end almost dripped in smugness.

Martha's face went slack in disbelief, then in a voice that made the Doctor frown, Martha had been jealous of Rose, so why would she be happy ?

" Oh, my god. He found you."

Rose looked at the Doctor questioningly but the Time lord wouldn't look at her.

Martha frowned, the Doctor, well, the previous one, had always worshipped the idea of Rose, now it seemed as though he was doing the exact opposite and that puzzled her.

Sarah looked over Susan's shoulder as she programmed her TARDIS. It was still a shock to see that the Doctor wasn't the only survivor of his race. The look on his face when he told her….

Sarah Jane shuddered, alerting Susan of the other woman's feelings.

Susan turned to her questioningly, " What is it ? You seem….I dunno, sad ?"

Sarah Jane nodded, " When your grandfather told me of the Time war and the fate of your people, I couldn't believe it. I'd always seen the Time lords as omnipotent."

Susan gave a wry smile that had no humour in it, " I know, technically we were supposed to be. Life's a different reality on the other hand."

A beep from the console caught her attention, " Right, the virus is transmitted. We'll give it two minutes to really get going before I materialise the TARDIS inside the vault."

" You know, I'm a little bit surprised by the name, vault, it sounds like a dungeon, a prison." Sarah Jane pointed out, looking thoughtful.

She looked at Susan, " When I was travelling, the Time lords sent us to Skaro, the homeworld of the Daleks, our job was to destroy them. That or make them less aggressive."

Susan frowned, memories of the Thals appearing in her mind unbidden. " Go on."

Sarah continued, " The Doctor couldn't do it, he had the opportunity in his hands, literally. You see, at that point, the Daleks hadn't done anything wrong, he said that if we killed them at that point, we'd be no better than them. Davros was shot, and the Doctor later explained that the Daleks hate anything not like them. Could he have made the same mistake again ?"

Susan looked thoughtful, she was aware, more than aware actually of the Skaro mission. This new idea of Davros's situation made more sense to her. She also considered the Doctor's mission to Skaro, she wondered, truly wondered, if he'd have done it if he'd known about the Time war. Such a thing was impossible.

" You could be right."

Another bleep from the console caught their attention and Susan took out her laser deluxe and checked the charge, it was more than ready.

" Transmat engaged," a Dalek voiced announced, breaking the glaring contest between Rose and the Doctor.

With a scream of no, Martha appeared on the crucible, not far from Donna.

Davros glided close to her, a Dalek right behind him, " Surrender, Miss Jones."

Martha wanted nothing more than to fight, but she knew that if she did that she would be killed and besides, there was always the chance something would go wrong.

Her posture went slack, as the force field came down, she saw Rose's face, it was filled with contempt.

" What ?" Martha asked.

" You, you didn't do it. You should've, you shouldn't have listened to him. He's not the Doctor."

Martha couldn't believe this holier than thou attitude coming from her predecessor, but the Doctor interjected,

" She was taken by surprise by the transmat,"

Rose didn't care, she'd lost her Doctor to this stranger, there wasn't anything left, " Don't matter."

" Enough, Supreme one, the time has come," Davros glided closer to the holo screen. He seemed to be hyperventilating in glee and triumph.

" Activate the reality bomb !" he screamed.

Davros laughed, a high, cold, grating, metallic laugh. It chilled Martha and Donna because of its inhuman sound, Rose didn't care.

Just then, the lighting seemed….off. It was flickering on and off. One or two of the Daleks looked around frantically.

" What is happening ?" Davros screamed.

No one answered the question, because, just then, a few of the Daleks started to lift from the ground as the artificial gravity started failing.

" Malfunction, loss of gravity. Loss of gravity." One of the Daleks grated.

" Unable to activate hover mode," another stated frantically.

The Doctor started to smile.

Just then, a sound they hadn't expected started.

A TARDIS materialisation was taking place. The Daleks milled around frantically, well, the ones that were still attached to the floor panelling.

But there was no sign of the police box.

In the centre of the room was a control console. It was the only part of the room which actually had a bit of cover, which is why Susan's TARDIS had chosen to materialise on that very spot.

Inside the TARDIS, Susan worked on her controls. " They're setting up the bomb, as soon as it detonates, the TARDIS will send the planets back to their original positions, making the bomb lose power and focus."

Jackie was struggling to understand, " You mean we have to let them do it ?"

Susan sighed, holding up the inversion catalyser, " This contains z neutrino energy, it came from the reality bomb, remember ?"

Davros was furious with rage, years of planning, years of developing the plan until it was utterly perfect. Everything had been considered, even the Doctor, should he actually arrive in the Medusa cascade.

But now, it appeared as though his plans were being foiled.

But where was the TARDIS ? Davros was aware of the ridiculous shape the time machine appeared in on its constant travels. It wasn't, it shouldn't be hard to miss. So where was it ?

The supreme Daleks' voice broke in, " Zero, universal detonation begins."

On the screen, Davros saw the wavelength build, and then….the planets seemed to fade. Davros frowned, that wasn't meant to happen was it ?

Was it ?

" Supreme one," he shrieked, " What is happening ?"

There was no reply. The communications system was off line.

Davros whirled about in his chair, spitting with rage, at the face of the Doctor. The Time lord wasn't moving, in fact, his whole face was calm and impassive.

Behind the console, Jack, Mickey and Jackie were holding blasters, which Susan claimed would tear a Dalek apart. In Jack's hand was a scanner which detected Dalekanium, the alloy the tin plated pepper pots were made from. It wasn't likely to work on Davros, his wheelchair was made of more primitive materials that the aforementioned Dalekanium.

Jack pointed out directions to the others and, bracing themselves, they leapt to their feet and fired.

The energy pulses hit the Daleks with such force they were split right down the front in half, burning the creatures inside. Davros was taken by surprise but before he could move, Susan was right in his face, addressing the Doctor as she did.

" The magnetron is offline, leaving one planet. Guess which one," her face became a mask, " Goodbye, Davros, this is for my people."

Davros wanted to know who she was, " Who are you ?

Susan grinned, " I'm the Doctor's granddaughter."

She fired the time loop at him. The energy impacted on Davros in an instant. He started to fade away, washed away more like. It was like looking at a sandcastle being washed away by a tide.

Davros felt himself being dissolved into nothingless.

" I cannot die, I am Davros !" he screamed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Returning to Pete's World.**

" I cannot die, I am Davros !" Davros' final screams rang throughout the vault as his body, his wheelchair, everything about him, faded away, dissolving into dust which also vanished a second later. The Daleks followed suit as their travel machines started breaking up and fading away, their grating voices screeching as they vanished.

In terms of payback, the Daleks got what they deserved.

Most of the group, the Children of Time, shuddered. Susan didn't look like she was remorseful of taking a life, Davros had destroyed millions through the Daleks, plaguing the Time lords and now, trying to wipe out all of creation in a manner similar to Rassilon's ultimate sanction. No, she felt no sorrow, anymore than the Doctor did, even if he disapproved of her method. Davros had had it coming for years.

Some of the others weren't sorry to see Davros die; Sarah Jane, who'd met the evil scientist years back when she was travelling with the fourth Doctor, certainly didn't shed any tears.

Donna, who'd watched and listened as Davros tested the reality bomb on the prisoners, people who'd never return again, felt no pity for him.

Martha felt the same, she'd never truly met the monster, but she felt nothing for him. Especially since he was responsible for the creation of the Daleks and the destruction of the Doctor's people.

The Doctor walked over to his granddaughter, putting a gentle arm around her shoulders, his face was calm but loving.

" Susan, when you said in my mind you had a plan, was this what you had in mind ?"

" More or less," Susan replied, her voice quiet.

Suddenly, there was a cackle as Dalek Caan made his presence known.

" I thought the Daleks were gone," Mickey said.

Susan shook her head, " This Dalek wasn't created using Davros's DNA. This is something else."

The Doctor nodded, " Susan, meet Dalek Caan, the last survivor of the Cult of Skaro, he jumped into the Time war, unprotected and rescued Davros."

Susan looked at the Dalek curiously. " How ?" She asked.

" Beats me," the Doctor replied.

He walked over to Caan, as he did he noticed the condition of the casing, it was underpowered and heavily damaged.

" You knew this would happen, didn't you Caan ?"

The Dalek answered, no sign of insanity in his voice, it was like listening to a normal Dalek, " Correct, Doctor. I knew your granddaughter would survive and would return to her Time lady form with the right prompting. Davros would tell you that I saw time when I was shifted into the Time war, but it was more than that. Is that not correct, Miss Noble ?"

Donna was surprised the Dalek was addressing her, " Me ? What d'you mean ?"

" I can see timelines Miss Noble, you featured in a majority of them, I also have the ability to manipulate the timelines to a point where it is only a matter of simple thought. You were dosed on huon particles for 6 months, it was going to happen. I also excited the hormonal levels in your body to send you into the Doctor's TARDIS, considering it was your wedding day it wasn't surprising. Your appearance ensured that the timeline would run the way I desired."

Susan was intrigued, " What do you mean, desired ?"

Dalek Caan explained, " I saw the Daleks, the truth of us. What we have done, throughout eternity. I decreed no more. This was one massive manipulation, the crucible has been present in the Medusa Cascade for 50 years. I had plenty of time to integrate myself in the timelines, the Daleks created by Davros ignored me, called me

" Abomination." I manipulated events to allow Donna Noble to become a companion of yours Doctor, this way the timelines would show this outcome; the death of the Daleks, the elimination of Davros, the return of your granddaughter and your regeneration."

The Doctor's head shot up angrily, " You mean you ensured I regenerated ?"

" Yes, I did. The Tenth Doctor's timeline would not have lasted longer than another decade in any case, in one of the timelines I observed, you directed the regeneration energy into the hand in your console room and Miss Noble would have touched it, creating an instant Time lord meta crisis. She would have your mind, killing her. You would have been forced to block her memories, lest they kill her. Your tenth self would have been alone, for a selfish reason, the false love." Dalek Caan explained patiently.

Rose gasped at that, heartbroken and furious that this thing would meddle.

The Doctor had been thrown off by the news, " So, this was to ensure that Donna survived ?"

" Essentially, I also manipulated the Time war to allow your granddaughter to escape, that was the important part. In this timeline, Gwen Cooper did not exist. The timeline I described, she did have a fob watch located in a box and she would never touch it."

Susan gasped at the implications of that one. It was true Gwen Cooper didn't take the watch with her to work, either as a policewoman or even at Torchwood. The perception filter only worked close range, the host would never be free unless the watch was close by. The Host, in this case a human, was programmed to ignore even the most obvious things of Time lord lore. But when the watch was nearby, it was a different story.

If Caan hadn't interfered, then Susan would've been trapped forever.

Caan carried on, " By bringing the eleventh Doctor forward and by bringing your granddaughter back, then the universe is safer from the silence."

The Doctor frowned at that, " The silence ?"

Dalek Caan's next words were truly enigmatic, " Silence will fall when the Pandorica opens. Silence, Doctor, silence will fall. I am sorry, Doctor," he sounded it as well, which was odd, " I cannot see anything else ."

The party was a little unnerved by the newest prophecy, both Susan and the Doctor frowned, trying to figure out what the prophecy meant and what it would mean for them.

Caan continued, " I am the last Dalek, Doctor. Please, end my life. Destroy the Daleks forever. We do not deserve life."

The Doctor turned to the others, " Get inside the TARDIS, Susan, prepare to leave."

Susan nodded and led the others inside the TARDIS.

For the next 5 minutes the TARDIS crew were quiet as everyone waited for the Doctor. Susan was standing beside the console, her face grim.

" Oh no," She said.

Jack came over at once, " What's wrong ?"

Susan looked up at him, " Remember when I said that I sent a virus into the Dalek computer system ?"

" Yes," Jack replied slowly, wondering where the Time lady was going with this.

Susan ran a hand through her long black hair, " I programmed the virus to interface with the magnetron, making it send the planets back to their original positions. Unfortunately, the piece of Dalek junk burnt out. Clearly, it wasn't designed to reverse the system."

" Are there any planets left ?" Sarah Jane asked nervously.

" Yep," Susan grinned, " Earth."

That was easy. She could tow the Earth back in a warp field, but she needed to contact Ianto for some things. She'd just finished when the Doctor came into the TARDIS, looking around at the difference between this TARDIS and his own.

The Doctor walked to the console and was just about to hit the dematerialisation control before Susan stopped him.

" We need to attach a couple of tow ropes to Earth, I've already arranged for one."

" Where from ?" The Doctor frowned.

" Torchwood Cardiff, I asked Ianto to do it and also patch in the sub wave network. Unlike your TARDIS, mine can do the job with only one tow rope." Susan finished smugly.

The Doctor glowered at her.

Susan walked to the controls and in no time the TARDIS was guiding the Earth back to its original position.

The Doctor leant in close to her and whispered a few words in her ear. The Two Time lords left the room.

" What is it ?" Susan asked her grandfather.

The Doctor ran a hand through his floppy hair, he preferred it somehow, " I think we should take Rose Back to Pete's world. Now."

Susan sighed, " I admit I haven't thought much about her, but I would've thought you'd do that with your own TARDIS, when she was fully healed of course," Susan added.

The Doctor's face dropped into a scowl as he remembered the pain she'd suffered from the Daleks handling of her.

" How bad was it ?"

" Bad, I had to put her on a regeneration, luckily the Cardiff rift is useful for that." Susan replied.

The Doctor nodded, happy that his granddaughter had been considerate enough to do that.

" Right, so what do we do about Rose ? I don't like the idea of using my TARDIS to take her back to her new home." Susan said, getting the conversation back to the previous topic.

The Doctor nodded, " I know, but your TARDIS is fully functional and mine is still badly damaged."

Susan sighed.

Rose was standing by the console, noting the differences, at least that was what everyone thought. Indeed, everyone had noticed the differences and similarities between this TARDIS and the Doctor's.

To most, they'd seen the TARDIS as a kind of car, with models and types.

But to Rose, the Doctor's TARDIS was ONE of a KIND, meaning that there could be no other. Then again, there was that bitch the Doctor said was his granddaughter. How dare he have a granddaughter and not tell her anything about it ?

The return of both the Doctor and Susan shook her from her thoughts. Both Time lords had grave looks on their faces as the Doctor and Susan started setting the controls on the TARDIS console.

" We've arrived back at Earth's solar system. The planet will be back in its position in a minute. Right, it's back." Susan reported. Everyone cheered and clapped.

The Doctor's next words silenced them all, " We're now taking Jackie and Rose back to their new reality."

Rose's head shot up, " What ? After all that trouble I had getting back, to you, now you wanna send me back ?"

The Doctor looked straight into her eyes, " Rose, do you have short term memory ? I told you, you were going back to Pete's world."

Susan felt it was time to add her own views, " Besides, you did punch a hole in the fabric of reality, you did endanger our lives by damaging the Time lock which protects the universe from the Time war."

Rose shot a glare at Susan, " Mind you own business, bitch."

Susan quirked an eyebrow, being a former student at a Human school meant that she was immune, more or less, to insults. Susan had learnt very quickly the fluidity of human cursing. Insults meant nothing to her. She'd heard them before, some even directed towards her.

The Doctor took over, " Don't insult my granddaughter. She's hit the nail on the head. Your dimension cannon fractured the time lock, allowing Caan to rescue Davros. Who knows what other horrors have been released."

Rose sneered, " Like what ?"

" Oh, I dunno, like a malignant Time lord who just so happened to be one of the architects of our culture, preparing to destroy life so then he and his followers would become creatures of consciousness, not scary enough ?" the Doctor shouted, losing control.

Jack decided to get some answers, " What'd'you mean Doctor ?"

The Doctor closed his eyes, the memories of the final days of the war getting to him. Susan came close to him and wrapped her arms around him. The Doctor rested his chin on her head, inhaling her scent.

" Rassilon, one of the first Time lords, was resurrected. He lead the war, deposing a friend of mine as president. His leadership was shaky, Rassilon was a scientist and he had never lead a war except against vampires. Daleks are a different kettle of fish and it wasn't long before he started losing his mind."

" He created the ultimate sanction - ripping a hole in the time vortex, widening until it was ripped apart."

Jack understood enough about the vortex to know what that meant, " That's….suicide," he breathed.

" Precisely, " the Doctor said, " I had to stop him." he looked down, his eyes closed. Susan hugged him even tighter.

Rose didn't get the point, besides, she didn't like this whore holding the Doctor, " So what ?"

The Doctor opened his eyes and snarled at her, " So I don't want Rassilon to return. If he ever got out of the time lock, then the ultimate sanction would destroy the whole of our universe. Rassilon didn't care about life, but behind the lock then the universe was safe. In a sense, they are dead. The Time lords lost their nobility in that war."

" So what ? You nearly allowed Davros to do something similar. How many lives would need to be destroyed before you got out of your fantasy ?" The Doctor spat.

He carried on, not knowing that some of the others were thinking things through, especially Jackie.

" I don't want you to travel with me, not now or ever. You're going back." The Doctor finished, his tone and posture unapologetic.

Rose shook her head, fanaticism and madness written all over her face, " No, I did it all for _you_. I came back for _you_, I gave up my life with my _pathetic_ mother who shagged her way through life," only the Doctor and Susan saw Jack, Mickey and Sarah Jane take hold of Jackie, who looked heartbroken her only Daughter would say that, plus the fact she wanted to punch Rose in the face.

Rose carried on, ignorant as always, " I gave up Mickey for you, even though I thought he was a loser. You have a time machine, a better way of life. Why else did you pick me up ?"

The others could now understand the situation a little better, Rose had been so desperate for a different life that she'd jumped at the chance for the opportunity to travel or hitch a ride with the first guy to take an interest. But they knew, Sarah Jane, Martha and Donna, the only ones to travel longer with the Time lord, that travelling with the Doctor didn't mean you should automatically abandon the life you'd had before.

Rose's view wasn't unlike some of the people to travel with him, it was exciting. Yes, they knew that. They also saw reality, that all good things came and must come to an end. Rose seemed to think that Fate or God had picked her out, amongst the millions of people on Earth, that something had pointed the finger at her to travel with their unique friend.

That wasn't true; Rose had merely been there at the right time and place.

The Doctor's eyes were cold, his face expressionless. His face looked like stone, " Rose, I invited you to travel with me, as thanks for rescuing me from the Nestene Consciousness. Love had nothing to do with it. I tend to thank people by asking them to travel with me. I'm over a thousand years old, yeah, I'm older than 900, didn't it ever occur to you that some others had travelled with me ? That I'd invited them more or less the same way. Sarah stowed away, but I grew attached to her, Martha saved my skin from the Judoon and a Plasmavore."

" In that regard," the Doctor concluded, " You are not special. I never asked you to abandon your life in the 21st century, even though I think the time zone itself could be a little bit nicer. I invited you out of thanks, Rose, just that. Thanks."

Rose's furious gaze found Susan, " What bout her ?" she pointed at Susan.

The Doctor sighed, " Susan's different. I was her guardian back home, her parents died in an accident and she was alone. I was the only member of the family to take her in, she lived with me for over 20 years. I helped her when she was inducted into the academy. When I decided I'd had more than enough of Gallifrey, I just….took her from our world. I couldn't leave her."

The Doctor gave a rueful smile, " I kidnapped her, basically."

Susan's eyes closed, remembering her parents, the pain of their deaths and the anger she'd felt at her grandfather's presumption. Then she remembered her forgiving him. Eventually.

Rose didn't get it, " You kidnapped her ? You expect her to forgive you ?"

Susan spoke up in a whisper, " I already have. I forgave him for most of his mistakes. Not all of them, but the majority."

Rose spat at her, " I wasn't talking to you."

Susan's voice was calm, but everyone could hear the dislike in her voice, " No, you were speaking over me, talking about me as if I wasn't here."

Rose lost it. She launched herself at Susan and was just about to punch her in the stomach when the Doctor grabbed her and shoved her into Jack's arms.

Rose struggled but then the Doctor's hand shot out and took hold of her chin. She gaped at the contempt and hatred she saw in his greenish blue eyes. His voice, quieter than a whisper, sent chills down her spine as she felt fear.

" After attacking my granddaughter, do you really think I'll let you travel with me ? DO YOU ?" He ended with a shout.

Pete Tyler was listening to his wife as she explained what had happened, why the Doctor looked different, why the stars were going out and why Rose, his " daughter " was being held by a tall, good looking man.

Jackie was in a right state and Pete knew it had something to do with Rose, " What did she say to you ?" he asked quietly, concerned.

Jackie took a shaking breath, " I've looked after Rose her whole life, but I always felt she wasn't grateful. She always wanted something I couldn't afford, every time she was refused she threw a temper tantrum. Rose had her own little world where she dreamt of things, possessions. She never cared about how I felt. Rose never understood why I dated other men, it wasn't because I was disgracing the other you's memory, it was because I wanted to try to move on."

Jackie sighed, " Before you met ME, but didn't you ever consider it ?"

Pete was stunned anybody could ask such a foolish question, " Of course I did, I didn't want to but I knew that my other Jackie was dead and gone."

Jackie shuddered as tears kept forming in her eyes. The other Jackie was still was touchy subject for him, just like her Pete, her real Pete, was for her. Those deaths had defined the people they were today, but that didn't mean the subjects weren't still painful for either of them.

" Exactly, then the Doctor came along. Before he did, Rose would go off with any boy, thinking they would take her away. But Rose always had this psychological problem where she would think she was in love with the other and vice versa. She treated the Doctor the same way, I could see it. I spent a lot of time trying to stop her going off with him, even speaking to him. But they never listened. As time passed, I could see he was starting to see my point."

Jackie took a breath, " When we were stranded here, she was obsessed. The other boys didn't have two hearts, be brought back to life and change their faces, travel in space and time in a machine that was bigger on the inside. That's why she was so obsessive."

" That's why the dimension cannon should be destroyed."

The Doctor and Susan had come over, feeling this was the best time to interrupt and get straight to the point.

" Pete, I know that as the Head of Torchwood, you have the authority to destroy the cannon, the research and make sure the scientists forget their work." The Doctor said to Pete.

Susan took up the argument, " The cannon could destroy the universe, not in a big bang. It's like building a house and then removing the foundation. Girder by girder. One at a time. The house would fall apart. Not just this reality, but every reality. All universes are connected Mr Tyler, connected in ways you couldn't even begin to imagine."

The Doctor nodded, " During the Time war, my people made many mistakes. But the sealing of other realities wasn't one of them. Make no mistake, for all their faults my people were quite smart and capable. If you can build a machine which transcends dimensions then the sealing of universes shouldn't be a problem. The walls were slammed shut, forever. Only the Time lords and the power of our race could reopen them. It's never gonna happen though, our race, " he gestured to Susan and himself, " is locked behind a barrier. Rose's dimension cannon broke through that barrier, it released Davros, the Daleks and heaven knows what else."

" When me and Susan return to our universe, we'll need to repair the damage, try to find out if anyone came out of the war."

Pete wasn't getting the point, Susan could see that, his next words proved that, " How can that mean anything to us in this universe ?"

Susan sighed, " The walls of reality are still open, when Rose used the cannon, it only fractured reality. Davros's damage widened those same fractures. Anything could've left the Time war and fled to other universes. Those horrors are beyond imagination, _things _that could bring the dead by to life, only to wipe them out again in different ways. The Time lords lost their way during the war, but the Daleks were worse. If one Dalek comes into this reality, I don't know if they exist here, but if they don't and one does get here…. The Daleks are the most evil race in creation, they multiply like flies, devastate worlds in waves like locusts, destroy and enslave races, all because they've sinned creation by not being Daleks themselves."

Susan stared him in the eyes, " If one did here, the Human race would probably become a slave race in an empire spanning millions of galaxies."

" How does destroying the cannon prevent that ?"

" It doesn't, " Susan admitted. " But I can tell you now, there's no way of knowing for sure that a Dalek or two didn't survive in this reality. If some did then there is nothing we can do to help, the walls are closing even now. They're healing from the damage Rose and Davros inflicted, we wont be able to stay here for long."

Jackie could see her husband was indecisive, " Pete, they're telling the truth. During the time I spent with the Doctor and Susan, what they said made sense. The Doctor tried to warn me of the Cybermen breaking through to my world. But I didn't listen. He was right. These two, " here she pointed at the two Time lords, " know what they're talkin' about."

Pete looked over at Rose, who was defiant. Then he looked back at Susan and the Doctor, " Ok, I'll destroy the cannon. Is there anything we can do if the Daleks do come to Earth ?"

Susan and the Doctor looked at one another and Susan stepped forward, her hands outstretched, " I can pour in my knowledge of the Daleks and you can use it to make defences and even improve your technology."

Pete looked hesitant, but one look at his wife made him accept. Susan touched his temples and closed her eyes, Pete was seeing images, techniques and tactics flash through his mind in seconds.

When she was finished, Susan stepped back and looked at him. " Be careful."

The Doctor walked over to Rose and said one word to her, " Bye."

Together, Jack, Susan and the Doctor went inside the TARDIS and left Pete's world forever, leaving behind a broken hearted Rose Tyler, who still didn't know or understand why she was being left behind.


	10. Chapter 10

**Authors note, only 2 chapters of this story left. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, just as I've enjoyed writing it. **

**The Children Leave home. **

Sarah Jane Smith had been an expert of aliens and psychology for a long time, she was aware of Rose Tyler's incredibly selfish nature, having encountered it first hand during that business with the Krillitanes at the school. She could see that the younger woman was obsessed with the Doctor, but she hadn't expected the girl to be uncaring about the consequences.

Sarah had always been remarkable for her capacity for reading people, telling when there was more to a situation and using her instincts, which she trusted implicitly. It was for that reason that she'd become one of the Doctor's companions, even though she'd trusted her paranoia instead of her instincts. When she'd first found out the Doctor was an alien ( which was more or less when she'd first stepped inside his TARDIS at the research centre where the Sontaran Linx was kidnapping scientists to repair his ship ) she'd jumped to the conclusion that he was kidnapping scientists for some reason, like finding out how far humanity was actually progressing.

Why would an alien with a machine which was infinitely superior to every single ship in the cosmos wish to spy and kidnap human scientists who were trying to build new space technologies ? Later, the logic would be changed to chastisement - the Doctor's TARDIS was infinitely superior to any and all spacecraft, despite the fact it wasn't very reliable.

Sarah Jane had learnt as time went on that the Doctor was a tremendously complex individual, he wasn't above sacrificing himself to help others - how many of his precious lives had he used to help others ?- he had thought processes that were like and yet unlike those of other human beings, he had a more human empathy that even humans lacked.

Rose certainly fell in that category; narcissistic, with a obsession about the Doctor. Sarah Jane had never truly liked her and certainly wouldn't classify her in the same category as Susan. When they'd first met, Rose had been more concerned about the Doctor having people travel with him before he'd met her. Whilst Mr Finch had tried to seduce the Doctor with the power to restore his people, Rose had just stood there, unhelpful, whilst Sarah did all the work.

Sarah remembered when she was younger, how she'd been more impetuous and stubborn. She liked to think that she'd mellowed as time wore on. Right now Sarah had an auxiliary career as an alien investigator, similar to Torchwood. Captain Jack had pretty much the same job she did, but they did it differently; Jack relied more on force whilst Sarah relied more on her pretty inexhaustible wits.

Sarah Jane had been aware of Torchwood for a long time, just as Harkness had been aware of her.

Martha Jones remembered the time she'd left the Doctor - the old Doctor, and remembered telling him about her friends near obsession with someone who didn't give her the time of day. Meeting Rose and experiencing first hand the way she'd treated the Doctor and the way she'd spoken about her mother and the cute guy that'd accompanied her back to this reality.

The last Doctor had painted a picture of Rose, in that picture Rose was perfect, looks, brains, the lot. Instead, she'd seen the opposite to that. Rose was everything Martha hated.

Martha knew she herself wasn't perfect, no one was. But to actually hear the way Rose regarded the newest Doctor….it was staggering, especially since the Doctor had mentioned she'd seen him actually change his appearance in a regeneration.

Surely it occurred to the blond that if he could do it once, he could and would do it again.

She'd noticed that the older woman, Sarah Jane, hadn't been completely surprised by this ability. Had she seen him regenerate before ? It would explain why she wasn't freaking out.

Donna Noble knew she wasn't perfect, hell her mother made sure she remembered that particular fact every day of the week.

But Rose…..

Unlike Martha, Donna didn't want an intimate relationship with the Doctor, she was more happy to be his big sister, his confidant. Donna may be many things but a nosy gossip wasn't one of them. She hated it when people insulted her, her insecurities often got the better of her. That's why she was headstrong, to hide the tears and the pain. Not many people noticed it, but the Doctor and her grandfather did.

Finding out that the Doctor was a grandfather had been an eye opener in itself, but it was logical to see that even the Doctor, who didn't talk much about his family until Jenny came along on Messaline, that incident had gotten Donna wondering, if the Doctor had had children, why not grandkids ?

Unlike Rose, Donna didn't have much of a problem with Susan and what she represented. She was just glad that the Doctor wasn't alone. The fact it was his granddaughter meant nothing to Donna and she was looking forward to getting to know Susan better.

Rose….

Donna wasn't the perfect mommy's girl and the Doctor knew that, how her mother insulted her and verbally abused her, Donna wasn't ashamed to admit that.

But Sylvia Noble wasn't a bad person deep down, Donna remembered the times she'd been bullied, how her mother had held her in her arms, how she'd used to try and encourage her daughter to do better, not just at school but in the world of work.

It wasn't Donna's fault that the job world was unfair and wouldn't even bother to contact her and others for interviews or even to say that the job had been filled, that you had no experience.

( A/N - Sorry, but I couldn't resist adding my own thoughts and frustration over the jobless world of Britain today.)

But Donna would never ever insult her mother like Rose had. Sylvia Noble had been a tough cookie, but she was fair minded and honestly wanted the best for the family , Jackie Tyler seemed like a truly nice woman who'd obviously worked very hard to provide for her ungrateful daughter.

Rose didn't deserve her.

Out of everyone in the TARDIS, Mickey Smith was unsurprised with the way Rose had shown her true colours. The Doctor seemed to finally have realised what sort of person she truly was deep down.

'bout time too, Mickey thought. Some may've thought that he loved Rose, or rather had feelings for her. It wasn't true, not anymore.

Rose was obsessive, clingy, arrogant, patronising and insultingly stupid, not traits he found attractive, every time she saw someone with something fancy - car, motorbike, it didn't really matter - she'd take off and try and get into their trousers.

It never worked.

Afterwards, Rose came back, pouted in what she probably thought was an adorable way. Back then he'd probably thought it was sexy, but now….now, she was repulsive to his eyes.

It was no secret that at first he and Jackie weren't the best of friends, but after Rose went missing on the first days she started travelling with the Doctor, and when he finally brought her back, they'd opened up to each other and became close friends.

That bond Had grown as the years passed. It became very useful during their stay in the parallel world. Mickey recalled the times Rose would sit in space after that beach message from the Doctor, later she became driven, obsessed with getting back.

Mickey had grown used to the concept that he would probably never see the Time lord again, but Rose wouldn't let go of the fact. Hearing from Jack and Susan that Rose had caused the calamity with the Daleks hadn't been totally surprising - Rose was incredibly immature and selfish, she wouldn't care one bit whether or not the universe collapsed in her attempts to get back.

Finding out the Doctor was a grandfather hadn't truly surprised Mickey - it made no sense that someone like the Doctor, being old, wouldn't at some point in his past have a family of some sort. How anybody could think otherwise surprised Mickey.

Mickey had declined to return to that other reality, his gran had died and Jake had left for pastures new. Luckily there was a cutie in the TARDIS.

Her name was Martha.

Captain Jack Harkness may not have been a genius in temporal mechanics in jumping from one reality to another, but even he knew it wasn't possible unless there were incredible circumstances. Seeing Rose again, and her manner afterward, had been an eye opener.

When he'd travelled with her and the Ninth Doctor, she'd been an amazing girl, pretty, funny and smart. But Rose had dozens of bad points. She was stubborn and impulsive, she ignored instructions. If the Doctor told Rose to stay in one place, she'd walk off or, more appropriately, flounce off, ignorant or indifferent of the danger. It was as if to Rose, the Doctor would come charging to her rescue.

That sort of dependency was dangerous.

Jack had a great team - Gwen, before she returned to Time lady status, Ianto, formerly Owen and Toshiko. None of them needed helping because they used their brains and wits. The only times they actually needed help was when they were in serious trouble.

Rose on the other hand…..

It seemed as if trouble followed the girl. She was indifferent to the consequences of her actions, because of her the Doctor had lost 2 of his allotted regenerations. Jack had been fond of all the regenerations he'd met previously, he wasn't sure about this new Doctor. His fashion sense was off, but he could tell that his basic personality was unchanged - he still hated Daleks, loved Earth and had bonds with his old companions.

His feelings for Rose on the other hand….he'd obviously grown out of her, seeing that she had many flaws.

It was the fact that Gwen had been a Time lady all along that stunned Jack. He couldn't help but think that if he'd trusted the team a little bit more so many things may've changed.

The Year that never was may never have occurred if there had been two other Time lords to tackle the Master and stop the Toclafane invasion of Earth.

Owen and Tosh may still be alive.

_I didn't see it_, Jack thought angrily to himself.

The Doctor and Susan were busy with the TARDIS's controls. They'd been silent for a while and the Humans had read their body language enough to realise that both Time lords were busy and didn't want to be disturbed.

Finally, after 10 minutes of work, the Doctor stood up in relief, followed by Susan, who shared his relief with a smile on her face.

" Well," the Doctor said quietly, " The Damage Rose and Davros caused the cosmos is repairing itself and healing thanks to the TARDIS's temporal fission power in the time vortex."

Susan nodded, but looked slightly concerned. The Doctor noticed her look and asked her, " What's wrong ?"

Susan stared at him, wondering why it hadn't occurred to him, " I'm just wondering about this premonition Caan had, the silence. What did he mean ?"

Frowning, the Doctor leant against the console, " I dunno," he said quietly. In truth, he'd barely thought of it but even so, he couldn't shake off the worry he'd felt from the first Dalek he'd met who actually made a prophecy. Unfortunately it had to be the only prophecy that made little sense.

" Silence, even the word is worrying." Susan said quietly so as not to startle the humans in her ship.

The Doctor nodded. " Silence can mean many things, the most obvious is that someone stops people from moving, talking, even thinking. Everything stops."

Susan's brain produced a more terrifying thought, " What if Rassilon escaped the war when Rose and Davros meddled with the walls of reality ? Caan did enter through a crack, which we've sealed. But what if he escaped through a crack we couldn't find ?"

_That_ was a terrifying thought, the Doctor conceded.

" When we depart from Earth - " The Doctor started but was interrupted by Susan, who folded her arms.

" What makes you think I'm leaving Earth ? Torchwood's down one member, plus I can more, infinitely more than my human persona could ever do."

" But Susan - " The Doctor started, only to be interrupted again.

" No, you listen to me," Susan snapped. " You dumped me, without warning, on a planet which had barely survived a Dalek invasion, now you're trying to get me out into the universe. I'm not a child, Grandfather. I haven't been one for centuries. You go, I'll stay. Besides, with both of us looking in different places, we may get more clues. Torchwood hears things it barely listens to, but with me being a Time lady, I can hear things a human wouldn't even begin to understand."

The Doctor didn't like it, but knew she had a point. He could travel the universe, see and hear things normal travellers wouldn't, with his Time lord insight it would be easy, trouble was he tended to move on from place to place.

" okay," he said grudgingly.

" When are we gonna get back ?" Jack asked for everyone. The humans present didn't understand the plausible dangers of the silence, or whether or not it genuinely existed.

The Doctor jumped slightly, he like Susan, had almost forgotten the others in the TARDIS. He checked the instruments and said, " Now."

It was hard to imagine that only a short time ago that Earth had been invaded, now it looked like nothing had happened.

That was the trouble with humanity, the Doctor mused to himself as he and his granddaughter walked through the park, Donna was waiting by the tree which was, in fact, Susan's TARDIS. The only other TARDIS in existence.

That the Doctor knew of.

Before the Master came along, the Doctor had been so sure he was alone. It wasn't until his greatest enemy had returned that the Doctor realised he should be more open minded. So, he'd programmed his TARDIS sensors to trace perception filters of the type utilised by Time lords.

Luckily, the latest Time lord in a series of only two individuals was someone the Doctor knew and trusted.

" What did you say to Mickey that made him angry ?" Susan asked quietly.

" When we first landed in Pete's world, Rose told me of how Mickey had lived when his father abandoned him and his mom, how his gran had slapped him." The Doctor explained, remembering that time, remembered his own thoughts and impressions of the conversation.

He remembered being disgusted that Rose would tell him something like that, it was deeply personal to Mickey. The way she'd smiled and seemed like she was about to laugh….

Was it to make him feel in some sick way superior to Mickey ? It wasn't a secret he and Mickey had barely gotten on - he blamed his Ninth self for that, but he knew even his ninth self would be disgusted by the manner Rose had described Mickey's upbringing.

Susan looked unsurprised, it seemed where Rose was concerned, anything bad was possible.

" I'm not sure about you going back to Cardiff, Susan. That's a small corner of the universe, how are you supposed to hear things from there ?"

Susan knew he was right, but she knew she could do just as much on Earth. Torchwood received hundreds of aliens thanks to the rift, it was a possibility that some might know what this silence was.

She voiced that thought, " Aliens pass through that rift. It's more than likely that one or more may know something about the silence."

The Doctor nodded grudgingly. " Oh, all right." a hint of mischievousness crept into his voice, " It hasn't got anything to do with Jack, does it ?"

Susan whacked him on the arm, an act that surprised both of them, " Ah ! Susan, since when did you become a hitter ?"

Susan smiled, it seemed that her regeneration had changed a lot more and removed some of her inhibitions, " Since I took on this incarnation, want another ?" she added, grinning.

The Doctor held up both his hands, " No, no Susan. Thanks but no thanks."

Susan sobered, " I have another reason for staying in Cardiff. Some time ago, two others in our team died. Since Gwen Cooper never existed, only two are left. I can't do that. Besides, me being a Time lady will be a major advantage."

The Doctor relented at the logic.

Susan smiled. Before anyone could say anything else, there was a sound similar to that of a TARDIS. The Doctor gasped as he felt something hot in his pocket. Reaching out he held it out to his granddaughter.

It was his TARDIS key, it was glowing yellow.

A/N I wont add in the sight of the new TARDIS console room, needless to say, it was exactly like the one in The Eleventh Hour.


	11. Chapter 11

My last chapter. Thanks, those of you who've read and enjoyed it, you warm my heart.

Disclaimer - I don't own Doctor Who.

**The End.**

_22__nd__ Century - 2134._

The hover cars flew over Cardiff, flew through the skyscrapers, Cardiff had come a long way in a hundred years. It now had fusion reactors, and a number of sea current wind farms under the sea. No longer was it polluted with the filth of the 21st Century.

Susan walked through the streets, a holdall on her arm. No one paid any attention to the young looking woman, her perception filter necklace making her appear like a ghost in the eyes of the public. No one bothered her and as long as she was silent, no one paid her any mind.

Life had been hectic for the past century, Susan still recalled the disgusting 456 affair when the 456's returned to extort more children from Earth, and their disgusting treatment of the children that they'd taken, the near death of Ianto Jones, the way the human governments had tried to cover it all up and tried to put the blame on others.

Susan sighed as she recalled the way she'd killed the Ambassador of the 456's and his pleading for mercy when she'd revealed her relationship with the Doctor. It seemed even that degenerate race had heard of the infamous Time lord.

She destroyed the 456's after defeating them on Earth, time looping their planet. Jack and Ianto had left Torchwood, leaving her the reins for 6 months before they both decided to leave the Earth. They both travelled the galaxy for 6 years before coming back. By that time, Susan had completely reorganised Torchwood to the point it had become international. Using her TARDIS and the resources of Torchwood Susan had managed to solve greater problems and issues that the Torchwood under Jack just hadn't been able to do, with her TARDIS she was able to investigate, and with her alien intellect and time travelling experience was a godsend.

Unlike her grandfather, Susan wasn't interested in gathering companions, it wasn't because she was like other Time lords, it was for the simple reason that she was afraid of one day ending up bitter and alone.

Jack and Ianto had taken time to get to know the new Torchwood, with the TARDIS as a mobile base of operations it made them adapt much faster. Cardiff wasn't the only part of the world disturbed by aliens, and this time Jack, Susan and Ianto were able to use their combined expertise to alleviate the disturbances.

Susan sighed as she recalled the Silence and the Pandorica, how she and her grandfather, along with Donna, Amy Pond, Rory and River Song had fought the alliance and restarted the cosmos.

She wasn't sure about River, sure she liked her and enjoyed the way she teased and confused her grandfather, but she wasn't impressed by the way she knew her grandfather that well, " spoilers " River called the events that hadn't even happened.

The Doctor and Donna had told Susan about River and their meeting of her in the Library in the last days of his tenth life.

Donna had been surprised and confused, yet again, by the powers of time travel when they'd met up with River to fight back against the Weeping angels.

Susan shuddered as she recalled the cracks, the silence, the threat of the alliance, who went after her grandfather for something he'd never do. The saying went " know thy enemy ", the Sontarans, great believers in war and the Daleks, who'd also survived, claimed that they understood the Doctor, so why they believed he'd destroy the very universe he'd sacrificed so much for was a mystery to her. Them surviving had been a shock for Susan. The battle on the crucible should've seen that disgusting race being extinct.

The Doctor had said that some of the Daleks in the time war could've escaped in more or less the same way as Davros did, when Rose Tyler had played around with walls of reality. That made sense.

Susan smiled as she remembered Amy Pond and her husband Rory, she and Amy had hit it off quite quickly, Donna seeing her as a daughter sort of figure. In many ways she and Donna were alike, and it certainly wasn't for the fact they were red heads. They saw things much more differently than others, they were fearless and headstrong.

Rory, someone that Susan had liked instantly, reminded her so much David. It wasn't because of the fact that he had been hesitant in accepting his wife's travels, but because he'd also adapted to life as a time traveller.

Amy had saved the Doctor and Susan, the latter having gone with him in the pandorica to reboot the universe, it was lucky that Amy thought of others, otherwise they'd have had another Rose Tyler clone in their midst. The crack had poured the universe into Amy's mind, how she'd survived Susan didn't know, but it had been a godsend when her grandfather, her, the TARDIS, her own TARDIS, and their adventures together had been remembered.

Susan shuddered at the thought of non existing.

Susan smirked as she thought back to the wedding, it had been just beautiful. Especially with the Doctor showing off his dancing skills.

Susan shook herself out of her memories, focusing on the now. Donna had left after meeting up with another guy, Shaun, got married and had a few kids. Susan furrowed her brow as she remembered how the Master had returned a few years ago, eventually bringing the evil Time lords led by Rassilon out of the war.

Rassilon had revealed his part in the Master's insanity, revealing that the Master was nothing more than a pawn in his game and plan. The Master had taken revenge, using his life force to attack the first Time lord, pushing them back into the war.

Donna had left after that, deciding to enjoy her new life, especially with the Doctor giving her a lottery ticket which, thanks to time travel, was a sure winner.

Susan would miss Donna, but knew that the other woman was changed by her experiences and knew they'd serve her well.

The sad part was Sarah Jane Smith dying of cancer of all things. Susan had almost cried herself hoarse at the funeral, but she was delighted that she'd known Sarah and known that she'd been a remarkable woman, full of drive and determination.

Jack and Donna, along with the kids Sarah had taken under her wing had remade Sarah's role and merged it with Torchwood. No guns or weapons, just words. Martha and Mickey, in Sarah's memory, had also joined on a more freelance basis.

Other companions of the Doctor - Ian and Barbara, Tegan Jovanka, who Susan had been overjoyed to see again, Peri Brown, Ace, who was running a charity, Ben and Polly Jackson also joined in and added their own contributions.

Eventually they managed to do the impossible, they'd become an international alien fighting organisation, with Torchwood and Sarah Jane Smith's resources along with her TARDIS, they'd managed to repel thousands of alien attacks and attempted invasions, helping and being helped by the Doctor on more than one occasion.

The Doctor had been overwhelmed by the scale of this, many of his former companions, the ones who'd witnessed him regenerate, accepted him without question but others, like Ian and Barbara had been hard to convince. Susan grimaced as she remembered the way they'd been sceptical of her own identity before accepting her finally.

She'd enjoyed working with them, those had been good years. But she'd known it wouldn't last long. The originals had died off, or in Jack's case, had moved on.

Their children were now running the organisation in memory of their parents.

Now Susan was leaving the Earth and over two centuries of work behind her.

Susan got to the place her TARDIS was based at for the time being, unlocked the door and dumped her stuff on the floor.

Walking over to the controls, she checked the power levels and started to set the controls. She'd spent too long on Earth.

It was time for something new.

The End.


End file.
